Measures announced in Budget 2025 today (Tuesday, October 1) will not “do enough to address the income crisis” on farms, according to Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman.
Gorman acknowledged that the announcements in the budget would go some way towards addressing the pressures in farming.
“The increase in supports for suckler cows, sheep and dairy beef calves will be some help to farmers in the drystock sector. However, the reality is that these sectors need more support as they drive economic activity in rural Ireland,” he said.
Budget 2025 was signed off by Cabinet this morning and has been presented to the Dáil by Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers and Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe.
Funding for the agriculture sector announced as part of Budget 2025 includes:
- €30 million for a new tillage scheme supporting farmers to plant their field crops;
- €10 million for animal health measures improving biosecurity;
- €22 million for the continuation of the National Sheep Welfare Scheme into 2025;
- €8 million to enhance payment rates on the National Beef Welfare Scheme.
The IFA president said: “Our tillage sector has had a torrid two years. The number of acres under crops will be in serious jeopardy in the coming years.
“This payment will help farmers this year, but a medium and long-term plan is needed to protect and grow our tillage and horticulture sectors,” he said.
IFA national farm business chair Bill O’Keeffe said that the budget was a cost-of-living budget, rather than a cost of doing business budget.
“Many measures in the budget will help families, including farm families with cost-of-living pressures, but will not do a lot to address the cost of doing business which for farmers has increased by 73% since 2017,” he said.
On the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), O’Keeffe acknowledged the government’s efforts to exclude genuine farmers from the tax. However, he expressed concerns about how the mechanism would work in practice.
On agricultural relief on farm transfer, the IFA national farm business chair said that changes to target relief towards genuine farmers were “important” and went “a long way” towards the proposals made by IFA in it’s budget submission.
“The increase in the threshold for inheritance will also be helpful for farm families who are in the process of organising the orderly transfer of their farms.”
The IFA also welcomed the increase in the flat rate VAT refund from 4.8% to 5.1% and extension on the various agricultural reliefs.
Funding worth €5 million for the group known as the ‘forgotten farmers’ that was announced today was “noted” by the IFA, but the association is “awaiting more detail” surrounding the allocated funds.