The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection has been told that farmers with a high proportion of land under designation should see additional income disregards on some scheme payments under the Farm Assist payment.
The Farm Assist is a means tested support for farmers facing financial difficulties. The 2020 Programme for Government included a commitment to review the means test.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) was among four farm organisations that addressed the social protection committee this week on Farm Assist, with the low uptake of the payment featuring prominently in discussions.
Several farm organisation representatives cited the means assessment as a potential barrier to uptake, and said that other considerations should be taken into account when assessing potential income disregards.
The INHFA told the committee that farmers under Natura 2000 designations (both special areas of conservation and special protected areas) face income constraints due to restrictions on both farming and non-farming activity.
The INHFA told the committee that, for farmers that have more than 10% of their land, up to 30ha, in designation, a full disregard of income should apply on payments from the Complimentary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS).
As well as that, for farmers with 40% or more of their lands designated, the first €5,000 received under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) should be disregarded, the INHFA said.
The farm organisation also said that the disregard on spousal income should be increased from €20/day to €100/day, and that the disregard on savings should be increased from €20,000 to €50,000.
The INHFA also called for the piloting of a ‘universal basic income’ model for up to 500 farmers currently on the Farm Assist payment.
In the INHFA’s recommendation, these places would be on an opt-in basis, with farmers guaranteed the maximum Farm Assist payment (including allowances) for a period of three years.
In this model, that Farm Assist payment would be taxable, and after three years farmers would have the option of reverting back to the ordinary Farm Assist payment or seeking a place on the related Rural Social Scheme.
The INHFA said in its statement to the committee that 60% of recipients of the Farm Assist payment live in counties Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry and Cork; and that some 70% of recipients are over the age of 50.
The farm organisation also said that the number of recipients fell from over 11,000 farmers in 2011, with a budget of over €113 million, to around 4,500 farmers in 2023, with a budget of just over €49 million.
“While many will point to the falling participation levels as a positive and an indication that farmers have improved their circumstances either at farmgate level or through off-farm employment, we should also be open to other possibilities,” the INHFA said.
As well as citing the means test as a potential barrier to uptake, the association also suggested that farmers hitting retirement age (and therefore becoming ineligible for farm assist), coupled with migration of younger people away from rural areas, may also be bringing down the numbers of recipients.