It’s absolutely imperative that a further low-cost loan scheme is introduced to keep farmers competitive, IFA farm business chair Martin Stapleton has said.
General secretary Damian McDonald and president Joe Healy before the launch of the IFA's pre-budget submission on Wednesday. \ Finbarr O'Rourke
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The IFA has called for a €500m low-cost loan scheme in its pre-budget submission.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Martin Stapleton, the chair of the IFA’s farm business committee, said that if we saw or learned anything from last year’s low-cost loan scheme, it’s that the demand for this is huge.
“There is a real gap in the market for farmers to access low-cost credit in comparison with their European counterparts. The €150m was drawn down really quickly and many farmers were left disappointed as they weren’t able to access the low-cost scheme that was put in place.”
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Stapleton said that it’s absolutely imperative that a further scheme is introduced to keep farmers competitive.
“In order to make the fund significantly bigger, there’s two measures that can be taken to keep down the cost which we’re willing to consider.
“One is that the interest rate wouldn’t be quite so low and the second is that the risk that the Government would cover wouldn’t be as great as last year. By reducing the risk on the loan, we can provide a much bigger package for about the same cost.”
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The IFA has called for a €500m low-cost loan scheme in its pre-budget submission.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Martin Stapleton, the chair of the IFA’s farm business committee, said that if we saw or learned anything from last year’s low-cost loan scheme, it’s that the demand for this is huge.
“There is a real gap in the market for farmers to access low-cost credit in comparison with their European counterparts. The €150m was drawn down really quickly and many farmers were left disappointed as they weren’t able to access the low-cost scheme that was put in place.”
Stapleton said that it’s absolutely imperative that a further scheme is introduced to keep farmers competitive.
“In order to make the fund significantly bigger, there’s two measures that can be taken to keep down the cost which we’re willing to consider.
“One is that the interest rate wouldn’t be quite so low and the second is that the risk that the Government would cover wouldn’t be as great as last year. By reducing the risk on the loan, we can provide a much bigger package for about the same cost.”
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