IFA Delegation Sets Out Budget Priorities with Ministers Chambers & Donohoe

The Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform met with an IFA delegation to discuss the IFA’s Budget priorities.  

IFA President Francie Gorman said that this meeting provided the IFA with an important chance to highlight the significant pressures on farm families which caused a concerning drop in farm family incomes over the last 12 months. Mr. Gorman said the discussion focused on the need for support in agriculture’s most vulnerable sectors.  

“They face the biggest challenge in trying to reach viability. We have specific, targeted proposals that would add to existing supports,” he said. 

“We made the point that any support for SMEs should extend to farm enterprises, which are also struggling to make ends meet because of higher costs and the burden of regulation,” he said. 

The delegation which included IFA Farm Business Chair Bill O’Keefe and IFA Rural Development Chair John Curran raised the Climate and Nature Fund saying a significant element of it must be restricted to support farmers in meeting climate action targets.  

Farmers are keen to play their part in reaching our national targets, but funding will be needed to convert this into real outcomes,” Mr. Curran said 

Francie Gorman stressed that the various reliefs already in place for the sector should be extended and that anything that facilitates generational renewal should be part of the package for the agricultural sector.  

The delegation insisted on adjustments being made to TAMS limitations to consider higher costs with additional allocation needed to ensure proper funding for the new slurry storage grant aid scheme proposed by the Government last week.  

On the Residential Zoned Land Tax issue, the IFA remained steadfast in their position that farmers should be removed from the tax.  

Concluding, the IFA President said that the Budget 2025 would show the Government’s commitment to farming.  

Whatever is agreed in October, we do need to see measures rolled out much more quickly and efficiently. We cannot have a repeat of the ACRES fiasco.”