Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 October 2018
187. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason no farm management deposit scheme was introduced in budget 2019 as put forward by farm organisations as a key income volatility tool; if he had discussions with the Minister for Finance in this regard; and the further reason the proposal was not supported by Government. [42606/18]
View answerTaxation policy is primarily the responsibility of the Minister for Finance. My Department and I have ongoing liaison with the Minister and his Department on matters relating to agriculture. This year the Departments collaborated on the Progress Implementation Update of the Agri-taxation Review 2014, which is available at the following link: http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2019/Documents/Tax%20Expenditures%20Report%20Budget%202019.pdf.
This shows the excellent progress made over recent Budgets with the implementation of almost all of the 25 recommendations of the Agri-taxation Review. This has resulted in positive changes for Irish agriculture, especially in the areas of land mobility and succession. The Update shows that taxation support to the sector averaged €930 million per annum in the years 2012 to 2016, of which an average of €240 million per annum was in taxation measures exclusively available to farmers. The Update also includes a comprehensive economic evaluation of an income stabilisation measure.
An additional income stabilisation measure was not introduced by the Minister for Finance in Budget 2019. However, income averaging is a very useful tool in successfully managing volatility, and I was pleased that Minister Donohoe and I could agree to the lifting of the restriction whereby farmers with additional self-employed income could not participate. This will make income averaging available to significantly more farmers.
