The “real farmers of Ireland do not sell land” the Independent Kerry TD, Michael Healy-Rae, has told the Dáil as he criticised Budget 2025 for containing “poor choices”.
Deputy Healy-Rae also singled out the changes to the relief on inheritance tax, which he said “do not reflect the situation on the ground or the value of land”.
“I continuously say the value of a farm is immaterial. When it is transferred, the value of that land is totally immaterial because nobody is selling it.
“The standard is something like every 460 years, a piece of land is sold. That might sound ridiculous but it is a fact,” the deputy told the Dáil.
The Independent Kerry TD said that farmers are focused on making a living and improving land to transfer it to the next generation.
He also accused the government of being “far removed from reality” when it came to farming today in Ireland.
Deputy Healy-Rae
The TD said: “Very few ministers go home at the weekend and put on a pair of wellingtons or worry about the price of weanlings, milk, beef or lamb.
“They do not care and they do not know because they are not stuck in it themselves”.
Overall he believes that latest budgetary increases for the agricultural sector “remain minimal, leaving many farming communities feeling overlooked”.
The Finance Bill 2024 – which contains the measures announced in Budget 2025 – was debated in the Dáil yesterday (Wednesday, October 16).
According to Deputy Healy-Rae although the Bill extends the duration of key stock relief measures it will not deliver any new support.
While he welcomed that the Bill increases the flat rate scheme for unregistered farmers he said one issue that has not been addressed is “VAT on certain items of farm equipment that farmers in all good faith purchased, developed and built”.
The Independent Kerry TD said that the “rug was pulled out from underneath” farmers when it came to claiming VAT back in some cases.
“An example is calf feeders. I would not expect the people in government to know a whole lot about calf feeders because they would not know one end of a cow’s udder from her head, not to mind the calf feeder,” he added.