Agriculture Schemes Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17 ============================================================ Albert Dolan (FF), Galway East What really shocked me when I met Macra na Feirme was seeing that the numbers backed up what we were seeing on the ground. It really is important that we encourage young people to stick with the family farm. Part of that is that they need to see a future in it so that they know they will be able to take it over and invest in it for the future. What I am proposing here cannot simply be viewed as a retirement scheme for older farmers. It must be designed as a succession scheme for the entire farm family. I thank the Minister of State for the work he did in setting up that commission on generational renewal, because that was important. To have objective, evidence-based recommendations now allows the Department a chance to chart a pathway forward. I want to see that pathway coming. It is important to recognise that an older farmer cannot be made to feel that the State is effectively telling them to stop farming. Farming is their livelihood, but it is also their identity, their home and often a place where they have worked for generations. At the same time, we cannot have a situation where a son or daughter is seeking to take over the family farm, but they might be 35, 40 or 45 years old before they get the opportunity to take real control of the farm business. This is why I believe the commission's approach is worth pursuing. Both sides of the transfer should be provided. Meaningful establishment capital must be provided to the young farmer taking over and financial security must be provided to the farmer transferring the holding. In principle, we already recognise this by virtue of that tax credit of €25,000 over the course of five years, but we need to go further. We should remember what happens when succession occurs earlier. A young farmer has a longer investment horizon. They can borrow and invest, improve the family holding and adopt new technology and everything that goes with it. I understand that this might not be possible in this year's budget, but it is something the Government should pursue and look at further. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-17