Answering a question by Fianna Fáil TD John Brassil last week on whether “the low-cost loan scheme can be extended to include contractors involved in the provision of cutting of silage, harvesting services and so on”, Minister Creed replied that “contracting services of any kind are not included”.

He added that those enterprises eligible to avail of the 2.95% loans as “all those involved in primary agricultural production, ie livestock farmers, tillage farmers, horticulture producers (including mushroom growers) and others (including poultry producers)”, subject to further eligibility criteria.

This means that those contractors who do not have their own farm cannot avail of the reduced-rate loans. Minister Creed added that this was “to satisfy the requirements of the EU aid package” used to fund the scheme.

Farm contractors in Ireland could not be any closer to being part of primary agricultural production

In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) said it was “hugely disappointed” by the minister’s comments.

“After we met the Minister back in November 2016, he responded in the Dáil that these loans would be available to farmers or SMEs engaged in primary agricultural production. Farm contractors in Ireland could not be any closer to being part of primary agricultural production,” said FCI chair Richard White.

“We work on almost every farm in Ireland providing an essential and cost-effective mechanisation service, yet we as contractors with similar cashflow issues to farmers are excluded from the scheme,” he added.

The FCI called on Minister Creed to re-examine the decision, arguing that contractors have the same need as farmers to access low-cost loans and pay down more expensive forms of short-term debt.

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