The majority of Irish farms continue to be family farms. According to the CSO's labour input survey, 149,300 out of a total of 149,500 farms in 1996 were family farms. The proportion of people working in agriculture remains very high by EU standards. A total of 301,000 people, including 287,200 family workers, work on farms on a regular basis, working the equivalent of 223,400 full-time jobs.
It is true that the number of farms has declined in recent years, in line with the trend in all modern economies and industrialised countries. The number of farms declined by 12,200, or 7.5 per cent, between 1992 and 1996. However, 65 per cent of that reduction was accounted for by farms of less than ten hectares. It must be acknowledged that in our thriving economy, other types of employment may prove more attractive to young people than a career in agriculture, especially on small uneconomic holdings. The Government has committed itself in An Action Programme for the Millennium to "ensure support for the maximum number of family farms". This commitment is being carried out through actions to maintain farm incomes and to encourage the early transfer of land to young trained farmers.
In 1998, there will be an increase of 17 per cent, to more than £71 million, in funding for the farm retirement scheme. The scheme's original target of 7,000 participants was met by December last year. This scheme has made, and will continue to make, an important contribution towards encouraging the transfer of land to young trained farmers.
There is a wide range of taxation incentives in place to encourage young people to enter farming. Full stock relief is available for young trained farmers for a period of four years after qualification. There is a reduction of two-thirds in the stamp duty payable on farm transfers to young farmers. Other concessions in relation to capital acquisitions tax, probate tax, capital gains tax and land leasing are designed to encourage the early and orderly transfer of farms to the younger generation.
In addition, the huge increase in direct payments to farmers in recent years has contributed to maintaining farm incomes and thus keeping people in farming who would otherwise have left. Direct cheques in the post payments to farmers in 1997 amounted to a record high of almost £941 million.
In the context of Agenda 2000 one of my main objectives will be not only to protect farm incomes, but to seek to maximise the income of all farmers, particularly those on smaller farms, and to ensure that the appropriate structural measures are in place to support family farms.