The Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture, Claire Kerrane, has called on the minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to explain what is happening with a proposed scheme to provide support to a group known as the ‘forgotten farmers’.
Deputy Claire Kerrane said details of the proposed scheme “were supposed to be published in quarter one of 2023”, but this had failed to materialise.
According to the Deputy Kerrane “a further follow-up was promised in May 2023” but this also had not been forthcoming.
The forgotten farmers are a group who had typically set up their agricultural holdings before 2008 and were under the age of 40 in 2015, but did not qualify for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) supports as had other young farmers at that time.
According to Minister Charlie McConalogue, he remains “committed to supporting” the forgotten farmers group and that he has “long supported” the group.
The current position according to the minister is that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has developed a preliminary outline of a proposal to provide support to the forgotten farmer group.
The minister added: “Work continues on addressing a number of issues, such as the funding required and consistency with public expenditure, before the details of the eligibility requirements and benefits to successful applicants under the scheme can be finalised.
“Details of the scheme will be made available as soon as this process has been completed.”
Minister McConalogue has on a number of occasions said that he is committed to delivering for the forgotten farmers group “at the earliest opportunity”.
Forgotten farmers
It is estimated that there are up to 4,000 in the forgotten farmers group.
Farming organisations have repeatedly called on the government to move on its proposals for a scheme to provide a financial support scheme to the group of farmers who missed out on the CAP payments.
But Minister McConalogue said previously that despite DAFM’s work on the issue he does not have a “timeline” for the proposed scheme to come into effect.
He has pledged that the government is “going to deliver a scheme that recognises that the affected farmers could not avail of supports at the time in question”.