The development of a "proposal for a dairy cow reduction or an exit scheme" is still under consideration, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has confirmed.

In response to a question raised by Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on agriculture on the government's plans to introduce a farm retirement scheme, the minister said proposals put forward by the Food Vision 2030 sectoral groups were still being reviewed.

Deputy Claire Kerrane had asked the minister to provide an update on his plans to introduce a farm retirement scheme.

Minister McConalogue told Deputy Kerrane he was a "strong supporter of assisting the next generation take over the farm when the time is right to do so" and pointed to measures in the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that support generational renewal.

He also outlined to the deputy that the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) details generational renewal as one of its nine key objectives.

The minister said he wanted to ensure that the agri-food sector remained "strong and sustainable" into the future.

"The challenge of generational renewal is widely recognised both at national and EU level," Minister McConalogue said.

He said that Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 "reaffirms" this commitment.

The measures from the plan include:

Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CIS-YF), formerly the Young Farmer Scheme, with an increased financial allocation of 3% of the direct payments. In total, providing over €35 million per year in funding to eligible young, trained farmers;
Higher grant rates of 60% under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS) are available for capital investment for young farmers to invest in and future-proof their farms;
The National Reserve provides new entitlements to those meeting the definition of a 'young farmer' and provides top-ups to entitlements that are leased or bought by a young farmer in the years they are activated by them.

Minister McConalgue added that there are also a number of taxation measures to "facilitate succession and to support the establishment of young farmers".

These include:

Succession and the early transfer of family farms is supported by agricultural relief from capital acquisitions tax and stamp duty exemptions;
Investment and access to land, along with stock relief for long-term leasing are supported by 100% stamp duty relief for young trained farmers;
In addition, the Succession Farm Partnership Scheme provides for a €25,000 tax credit over five years to further assist the transfer of land within a partnership structure to encourage earlier transfer of family farms.

"There are challenges both for younger farmers becoming established and older farmers having concerns about future income, taxation issues and the retirement process," Minister McConalogue said.  

He also highlighted to Deputy Kerrane that recommendations put forward by the Food Vision 2030 sectoral groupings to "incentivise voluntary livestock reductions" including the development of a proposal for a dairy cow reduction or an exit scheme were still under consideration.

The Food Vision Dairy Group had noted in its final report to the minister the increase in dairy cow numbers in Ireland and put forward 19 recommendations to support the dairy sector to "stabilise and then reduce its emissions".