Representatives from the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) have met with the two government ministers responsible for Budget 2025 to set out the farm organisation’s demands.
The meeting today (Tuesday, August 27) with Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe saw the ICMSA outline several proposals, including the need for the Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to be reformed to allow family farms to be transferred without a tax burden.
Speaking following the meeting, ICMSA president Denis Drennan said that the upcoming budget “represented the last opportunity for this government to make good on the commitment contained in the Programme for Government to address the issue pf ruinous excess volatility in farm incomes”.
“It is simply a matter of fact that the government has undertaken to deal with the matter and, notwithstanding the fact that several solutions have been provided to it, has so far abjectly failed to make good on its commitment.
“The facts speak for themselves. The year 2023 was extremely difficult from a farm income perspective and, with farm incomes in free-fall across every sector, 2024 will be no better,” Drennan said.
“The taxation system is heavily weighted against farmers in terms of income volatility, and we know that most of the state’s 18,000-odd dairy farmers are working for less than the minimum state hourly-rate while facing tax bills based on figures that bear no relation to the current situation,” he claimed.
The ICMSA has proposed an income support volatility measure with the aim of allowing farmers to deposit money with the state in a “good” year, which could then be drawn down in a “bad” year.
The organisation said that the cost of such a measure to the state would be insignificant, while the impact on farm level would be very significant.
Other measures the ICMSA have called for include:
- Addressing the “illogical and arbitrary” exclusion of calf feeders and robotic scraper systems from VAT reclaim;
- Clarity on how farmers will be excluded from the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT);
- A Dairy Beef Calf Scheme delivering €100 to the calf rearer and €100 to the finisher;
- The extension of the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) to 70,000 farmers with a focus on measures that would be suitable to intensive farmers;
- Delivery of a 70% grant for slurry storage for all farmers;
- The introduction of a private pension regime that takes account of the income volatility in the agriculture sector.
Drennan called on the government to recognise in Budget 2025 the “huge contribution made by the agriculture sector at local and national levels and its capacity and record in terms of net foreign earnings”.
“The whole sector is in need of reinvigoration and directed supports and I hope that the government understands the need for a much more proactive approach,” he said.
“This is the government’s last chance to show farmers that its word, its commitment, stands for something. The government has not been positive or engaged with farmers or the wider sector and, bluntly, this is the government’s last chance to show some degree of honour and fairness with the farming community,” the ICMSA president added.