Following the publication of the Finance Bill 2024, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) farm business committee chair, Pat O’Brien said that further guidance is needed on farm transfer relief.

The bill was approved by government earlier this week, and introduces some “necessary” administrative and technical changes to the tax code.

O'Brien said that the bill "somewhat addressed" agriculture and retirement relief under Budget 2025, and that it "alleviated some of that worry" that the Minister of Finance may have hindered genuine farm transfers to the next generation.

“The whole point of agriculture relief is to facilitate the transfer of the family farm from one generation to the next and ensuring that that ‘successor’ generation have the option to continue to farm the land rather than being forced to sell the land to meet a tax liability.

"That’s the whole point and we believe that the bill will cover individual farmer cases in that respect," O'Brien said.

He said that farmers who have leased land to their companies or are in a farm partnership "must be" afforded the same protection when transferring the asset.

“The question of being able to pass on the farm to the next generation is just vital and we welcome the commitment to do this as set out in the finance bill.

"But it has to be explicit that all active farmers - irrespective of their status as a sole trader, company or partnership - must be able to pass on their farm to the next generation and there must be full clarity in the Finance Bill confirming that position," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said that this are is "still unclear" and said that his association is calling on Minister for Finance Jack Chambers to clarify the position in relation to relief "immediately".