Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2023
976. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will review the farm assist scheme to ascertain if changes are needed to the criteria, given that there are only approximately 4,500 farmers in receipt of the scheme. [37183/23]
View answerFarm Assist is a statutory means-tested income support specifically for farmers on low incomes. There are approximately 4,200 claims in payment at present. The Government has provided €49.4 million for the scheme in 2023.
My Department recently launched a public awareness campaign to increase awareness of the Farm Assist and Fish Assist schemes which ran from 19 August until 7 September.
I have also introduced a number of improvements to the means test for Farm Assist in recent years.
Under the Farm Assist means test, income from a range of agri-environmental schemes attract a disregard of €5,000, increased from €2,540 from January 2023, with 50% of the balance assessed as means. There are also annual disregards for dependent children; €254 for each of the first two children and €381 for the third and other children. Remaining farm income and income from off-farm employment is then assessed at 70%, with 30% disregarded.
Further to the commitment in the Programme for Government and in the Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, in 2021 my Department reviewed the means assessment disregards for Farm Assist. The report is available on the Government's website. One of the key recommendations of the report was to provide for an extensive expansion to the list of agri-environmental schemes that qualify for a disregard, which I introduced from June 2022. I further extended this list from April 2023.
Farm Assist is a demand led scheme. The numbers in receipt of a Farm Assist payment are falling mainly due to the age profile of the customers. Claimants tend to exit the scheme straight to a pension scheme. Farm Assist claimants can also move to the Rural Social Scheme, which provides a supplementary income for low-income farmers aged 25 years or over. Participants work 19.5 hours per week providing services that benefit rural communities and receive a top-up on their social welfare payment. Eligibility for participation in the Rural Social Scheme derives from Farm Assist, with the Farm Assist means assessment applying to the scheme. Almost 50% of Rural Social Scheme participants were previously in receipt of Farm Assist. There are currently 2,782 participants on the Rural Social Scheme, of which 1,298 were previously in receipt of Farm Assist.
Any further changes to the Farm Assist scheme would have to be considered in a budgetary context.
I trust this clarifies the position for the deputy.
