A spokesperson for Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Jim Daly confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that the outline of legislation reforming the Fair Deal scheme was approved by his cabinet colleagues this Tuesday.
The changes, in the works since a 2015 review of the nursing home funding scheme, include a three-year limit to the charges applicable to the value of productive business assets, including farmland. Under current legislation, farmers entering a nursing home is liable to pay 7.5% of the value of their farm every year for as long as they stay in full-time care. This means that the value of a family farm would be wiped out by the charges after 14 years, preventing the next generation from continuing the enterprise.
Government promise
The Government proposal is to end this after three years as is already the case for a nursing home resident's family home, in effect limiting the charges to 22.5% of a farm's value. It is expected that charges already paid up to this point would be taken into account, meaning that families paying for three years or more would see them stop once legislation is implemented.
The much-awaited reform was promised in the programme for government two years ago and has yet to go through both houses of the Oireachtas. This means approval at this Tuesday's last cabinet meeting before the summer break is crucial if TDs and Senators are to have a chance of voting on the proposal this year, paving the way for implementation in budget 2019.
IFA farm family committee member Maura Canning, who has campaigned extensively on this issue, described the latest development as "phenomenal". "I'm delighted because I have dealt with so many politicians over the last five or six years on this issue," she said. She accepted that the proposal would include restrictions, such as the ineligibility of leased land. "If you're leasing out the land and leaving a person in a nursing home, that's fair enough," she said. "We're really trying to bring young people back into farming."
Find out more in this week's print edition and on our weekly podcast.
Read more
Fair Deal farm asset relief to look back three years
Cabinet to consider Fair Deal asset cap on farms
Government plans to stop Fair Deal farm charges after three years
Legal query: farm at risk from the Fair Deal Scheme
Why you should plan farm transfer early to avoid heavy Fair Deal charges
A spokesperson for Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Jim Daly confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that the outline of legislation reforming the Fair Deal scheme was approved by his cabinet colleagues this Tuesday.
The changes, in the works since a 2015 review of the nursing home funding scheme, include a three-year limit to the charges applicable to the value of productive business assets, including farmland. Under current legislation, farmers entering a nursing home is liable to pay 7.5% of the value of their farm every year for as long as they stay in full-time care. This means that the value of a family farm would be wiped out by the charges after 14 years, preventing the next generation from continuing the enterprise.
Government promise
The Government proposal is to end this after three years as is already the case for a nursing home resident's family home, in effect limiting the charges to 22.5% of a farm's value. It is expected that charges already paid up to this point would be taken into account, meaning that families paying for three years or more would see them stop once legislation is implemented.
The much-awaited reform was promised in the programme for government two years ago and has yet to go through both houses of the Oireachtas. This means approval at this Tuesday's last cabinet meeting before the summer break is crucial if TDs and Senators are to have a chance of voting on the proposal this year, paving the way for implementation in budget 2019.
IFA farm family committee member Maura Canning, who has campaigned extensively on this issue, described the latest development as "phenomenal". "I'm delighted because I have dealt with so many politicians over the last five or six years on this issue," she said. She accepted that the proposal would include restrictions, such as the ineligibility of leased land. "If you're leasing out the land and leaving a person in a nursing home, that's fair enough," she said. "We're really trying to bring young people back into farming."
Find out more in this week's print edition and on our weekly podcast.
Read more
Fair Deal farm asset relief to look back three years
Cabinet to consider Fair Deal asset cap on farms
Government plans to stop Fair Deal farm charges after three years
Legal query: farm at risk from the Fair Deal Scheme
Why you should plan farm transfer early to avoid heavy Fair Deal charges
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