A bill, which aims to protect the family farm from vulture funds, and boost low-interest credit for farmers has cleared the first hurdle in the Dáil today (Tuesday, April 26).

The Impaired Farm Credit Bill 2022 is sponsored by the six TD members of the Rural Independent Group who said in a statement that it had been “carefully crafted, on their behalf, by the master of the High Court”, Edmund Honohan.

The bill would pave the way for a new state-run institution that would extend low-interest credit to all farm enterprises in a specialised manner. It would allow access to capital and credit in rural Ireland, boosting the entire rural economy and pivoting regional development in the process, the group said.

Commenting after the bill passed the first stage in the Dáil, Rural Independent Group leader, Deputy Mattie McGrath, spoke of the importance of the agri-food sector and the role of farmers to the Irish economy – worth €14.4 billion a year and employing one in every 10 workers in the state.

“For too long the government has facilitated vulture funds and banks to seize and sell family farms in Ireland,” he said.

“This bill would create a policy platform to tip the scales back in favour of landowners and farmers and is all about protecting the small man or woman against predatory financial institutions.”

It is their view, he said, that farmers are under attack from all quarters – climate action measures; the Common Agricultural Policy; and banks and vulture funds.

“We have observed first-hand the destruction and crippling impacts that these forfeitures have caused to families and rural communities. That is why we have brought forward this new bill.”

“This would not be possible without the exceptional and invaluable voluntary contribution of the master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan.

“His first-hand knowledge of the difficulties faced by farm families and his exceptional legal expertise have been instrumental to the publication of this bill.”

A parliamentary briefing session to inform all members of the Oireachtas about the merits and objectives of the bill (set to take place today) will be addressed by Master Honohan.

“Following on from today, we sincerely hope that all TDs will join us and fully support the bill and the farm families it seeks to assist.

“Without substantial local agriculture in local ownership, the towns will be blighted, and rural Ireland will continue to decline,” said Deputy McGrath.

‘The banks do not ‘get’ agriculture’

Speaking following the first stage passage of the bill, master of the High Court Edmund Honohan stated:

“The new world of banking is not geared towards agricultural lending. Put simply, the banks do not ‘get’ agriculture – and their business model will not allow it.

“Between banking, as we now know it, and agriculture, as we now know it, there is a grave mismatch, and it is farmers and their families who are the losers in this process.”

He said the bill is an invitation to all stakeholders to engage in a reappraisal of the “current dysfunction in the banking model as it applies to Irish agriculture.”

“Naturally, the usual gang of anonymous and highly paid banking lobbyists will beat a path to the doors of any minister who might ‘appreciate’ a briefing on the measures in this bill, in a desperate attempt to block or delay open discussion, to protect the interests of the banks.”

“However, instead we invite all those individuals and institutions to come on record and direct their observations to the Committees of Oireachtas Éireann, where they can be the subject of constructive analysis.”