The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Lobbying Organisation The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Date published 20 Jan, 2024

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Finance

Period 1 Sep, 2023 to 31 Dec, 2023

Specific Details IFA Budget 2024 Submission - Measures to mitigate increased cost of production and general inflationary pressures

Intended results Farm Schemes - To propose a tax credit for new and existing individuals practising as independent agronomists. To propose that funding should be provided to enable young tillage farmers under 40 to upskill and undertake courses in agronomy and integrated pest management. To incentivise re-planting of additional area secured in 2022, and to further increase cereal production in 2023, a half/discounted rate of €200/ha should be paid on land that remained in tillage production for year 2, with €400/ ha again being paid out on any new/converted land to tillage crops for the forthcoming season Existing rates involving growing of protein crops; multisward species (incl red clover) should be maintained for newly sown crops The Fodder Support Scheme should be renewed, with applications open to all eligible farmers not just successful applications in the previous scheme Given dairy producers incur similar inflated input costs as other farm producers, IFA propose that they too should be considered eligible for the scheme in its future design For farmers who do not have land suitable to grow and save fodder, IFA proposes that these farmers who carry cattle and sheep across the winter be given financial support to purchase feed / cover transportation To preserve the integrity of support measure, farmers who lease land for defined short-term periods purely to cut hay/silage crops from, should be eligible for payment even where such lands were not included within the individuals 2023 BPS application The €1,000 payment ceiling payment should be re-visited in recognition of those farms with higher stocking levels, with payments made in full for all hectares claimed. Existing rates should be maintained for newly sown highwire crops; field vegetables; mushrooms and apples Scheme should be extended to include soft fruit growers (especially those with heated gas) given these producers are also exposed to inflationary input costs as all sectors and those with heated glass even more so A document (Appendix 2 of Submission), presented at the recent Teagasc Pig Conference is included, options within this must be looked at to not only help protect pig farmers from future volatility but also poultry and other farming sectors. Taxation measures to mitigate the increased cost of production Commitment that there will be no change to the excise duty applied to Agri Diesel due to low road usage of farm machinery and no viable alternative for use in farm machinery Retain section 664A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and extend to include agricultural contractors to mitigate the increased cost of production Suspension of LPG/carbon tax for 2023 and 2024 for farmers and agri-contractors. Alternatively, any forecast increases in LPG/Carbon tax as per Finance Act 2020 should be deferred to periods outside peak agricultural activity The Government must fully honour commitments made in their Programme for Government Our Shared Future to ring-fence €1.5bn of carbon tax receipts, over the next ten years for agri-environment schemes. Glasshouse growers of food crops using CO? enrichment, should be granted a Carbon Tax relief/rebate. Where actual / estimated business losses are incurred as a consequence of inflationary input price pressures, consideration should be afforded to introducing a debt warehousing mechanism for impacted farmers, similar to that employed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The temporary income tax measures are retained and available to assist farmers adversely impacted by inflationary input price pressures. A permanent retention of 2 ‘step-out' years per 5-year cycle is provided for, where a farmer is allowed to ‘step-out' of income averaging more than once in a five-year period (once they are not carrying an unpaid deferred tax amount from a previous ‘step-out'). For example, if the farmer ‘steps out' from income averaging in Year 1 and repays the deferred amount in Years 2 and 3, they should be eligible to ‘step-out' again in Years 4 or 5 of a cycle. The general stock relief of 25% relief should be temporarily increased to 50% until 31st December 2024 to prevent tax issues for farmers in a year of high costs and poor cashflow. Social Protection Measures Farm Assist Similar to recipients of the Jobseeker's Benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance, recipients of Farm Assist should receive credited social insurance contributions for pension purposes. The capital assessment disregard should increase from 20,000 to €36,000 to better align with other social welfare schemes In the means test the depreciation rate for farm equipment and machinery should be increased to a standard rate of 10% to reflect the useful life of these assets more accurately. Eligibility should be extended passed pension age. The option of a three-year income test assessment be considered for those in receipt of Farm Assist long term. Fair Deal and Support for Older People The new a new, statutory Home Support scheme needs to be introduced as a matter of urgency and adequately funded to support older people to live at home. In the interim older people need to be supported to live at home through increased funding for the Home Support Service so that the number of hours provided is increased. The Total Contribution Approach (TCA) for calculating Contributory State Pension payments should be implemented in line with National Pension Framework (2008) agreement, which provides for total contributions of 30 years to qualify for a maximum payment. Private nursing homes need to be supported at the same rate as public nursing homes to ensure older people are cared for close to home. Social insurance credits should be provided to farmers on Farm Assist prior to 2007, when they were ineligible to make PRSI contributions under the scheme. The new Workplace Pension Scheme must be extended to include farmers and other self-employed people, with every €3 saved by a farmer, a further €4 will be credited to their pension savings account by the Government. Banking The Government, through the SBCI, introduce a state backed guarantee (80%) low-cost interest loan scheme, which is accessible to all primary producers across all the farming sectors including aquaculture, forestry and amenity horticulture. The scheme should Provide financial support to primary producers who are experiencing cashflow disruption and/or reduced profitability due to inflationary input prices. Operate through the main banks as heretofore with previous SBCI schemes, but also to include other financial institutions such as Credit Unions, An Post and other accredited asset lenders. Cater for loans up to €1,500,000 in the form of refinancing, working capital and term loans in addition to asset finance. Provide unsecured lending up to €500,000. Offer a loan duration of up to 6 years in the case of term loans and asset finance. Provide for a 12-month moratorium on capital repayments. Allow access to farmers who are leasing land and therefore are unable to provide adequate security to access secured bank finance without support of SBCIled schemes. Preclude the use of family homes as security. Preclude the use of personal guarantees for loan amounts under €150,000. Prohibit facility fees.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Tim Cullinan IFA President, Rose Mary McDonagh IFA Farm Business Chair, Karol Kissane IFA Senior Policy Executive

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Mass communications

Letter All Senators

Submission All Senators

Letter All TDs

Submission All TDs

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (1)

Letter (1)

Submission (1)

Lobby day (1)

Social Media (1)

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Cathal Berry TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Colm Burke TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Jackie Cahill TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Mary Butler TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Dara Calleary Minister of State (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment)

Sean Canney Minister of State (Department of Environment, Climate and Communications)

Ciaran Cannon TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Matt Carthy TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Collins TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Rose Conway-Walsh TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Creed TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Pa Daly TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Alan Dillon TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Frank Feighan Minister of State (Department of Health)

Michael Fitzmaurice TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Peter Fitzpatrick TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Joe Flaherty TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Charles Flanagan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Sean Fleming Minister of State (Department of Foreign Affairs)

Noel Grealish TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Brendan Griffin TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Johnny Guirke TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Marian Harkin TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Danny Healy-Rae TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Healy-Rae TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Martin Heydon Minister of State (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Heather Humphreys Minister (Department of Social Protection)

Paul Kehoe TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Martin Kenny TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Claire Kerrane TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

James Lawless TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Lowry TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Padráig Mac Lochlainn TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Marc MacSharry TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Mattie McGrath TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

John McGuinness TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael McNamara TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Aindrias Moynihan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Moynihan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Johnny Mythen TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Denis Naughten TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Carol Nolan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Ruairí Ó Murchú TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

James O'Connor TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Kieran O'Donnell Minister of State (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage)

Patrick O'Donovan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Fergus O'Dowd TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Darren O'Rourke TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Christopher O'Sullivan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Pádraig O'Sullivan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

John Paul Phelan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Anne Rabbitte Minister of State (Department of Health)

Michael Ring TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Matt Shanahan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Seán Sherlock TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Brendan Smith TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

David Stanton TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Peadar Tóibín TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Robert Troy Minister of State (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment)

Pauline Tully TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Violet Anne Wynne TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Niall Blaney Senator (Seanad)

Victor Boyhan Senator (Seanad)

Paddy Burke Senator (Seanad)

Malcolm Byrne Senator (Seanad)

Maria Byrne Senator (Seanad)

Micheál Carrigy Senator (Seanad)

Pat Casey Senator (Seanad)

Lisa Chambers Senator (Seanad)

Martin Conway Senator (Seanad)

John Cummins Senator (Seanad)

Mark Daly Senator (Seanad)

Paul Daly Senator (Seanad)

Regina Doherty Senator (Seanad)

Aisling Dolan Senator (Seanad)

Robbie Gallagher Senator (Seanad)

Seán Kyne Senator (Seanad)

Tim Lombard Senator (Seanad)

John McGahon Senator (Seanad)

Erin McGreehan Senator (Seanad)

Eugene Murphy Senator (Seanad)

Fiona O'Loughlin Senator (Seanad)

Joe O'Reilly Senator (Seanad)

Amii McKeever Adviser to Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Charlie McConalogue Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)