Daniel Hawthorne suckler and sheep farmer, Co Monaghan

I took over the farm when I was 19 and I’ve just turned 24. I still have a lot of time before I reach the young farmer age limit of 35. I’d be very worried that it could impact me and my plans to expand our farm business in the future. We need to know if there will be any concessions for young trained farmers trying to pursue farming as a career and could go over the €70,000 cap.

Thomas Duffy, dairy farmer, Co Cavan

I was shocked with the way it was brought in, I understand that it is an EU regulation but there was no warning or lead- in time which seems absurd.

It will fundamentally change succession planning for a lot of young farmers, and succession planning is already such a complicated thing for a lot of farm families. The question now is will there be any wiggle room to allow farmers to put plans in place. We need to see if Europe will allow us lead-in time.

Colm O’Leary, dairy farmer, Co Cork This is another roadblock for young farmers and has come completely out of the blue. As an industry, we’re told we need more young farmers, yet this cap will be a disaster for the plans I have for the farm. When you’re talking about expanding and dairy cows, €70,000 isn’t a huge amount of money, and the cap will cost me money in the long-term. I won’t benefit now from the €25,000 worth of tax credits that come as part of the Succession Farm Partnership.

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