Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald TD has voiced support for retaining Agricultural Reliefs currently in place for transferring the family farm. However, the party wants the reliefs’ conditions tightened up to prevent non-farmer land investors from avoiding tax while building wealth.

“We support the continuance of the schemes but I do recognise that there is a problem,” McDonald said on Tuesday when speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at the National Ploughing Championships.

“We certainly support what’s there and we also support moves - and I think this is supported by all of the farming organisations - to make sure that they are not exploited by those who are not in active farming just as a means of wealth management and wealth transfer.”

The party’s spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny TD added that “sometimes you have large investors buying land and transferring it as a means of avoiding tax”.

“They need to get that fixed but that doesn’t mean that we need to remove those Agricultural Reliefs,” Kenny said.

Time to take stock

McDonald stated that agriculture needs to “catch breath and assess” the “health of farming into the future”.

“It struck me this year that the big conversations seem to be about sustainability and succession on farms, preparing for the next generation, and a real fear that farming may not be viable or attractive for young people to come, have the life and be part of the industry,” she said.

Sinn Féin called for the introduction of a farm retirement scheme which would not include terms excluding the retiree from engaging in some level of farming activity after the transfer. The party suggested that larger farm viability challenges would need to be addressed for farming to be an attractive career option for young people.