An Taoiseach Micheál Martin has made it clear that his Government will not be making any negative changes to farm inheritance tax reliefs in the upcoming or any future budgets.

Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal stand at the Ploughing on Tuesday, he said any changes which might affect farming families were off the table, as far as he was concerned.

“We won’t be doing anything like that,” he said.

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“We’re not undermining the situation in terms of farm inheritance in any shape or form.”

The Taoiseach said “pressure” has come on the Government from those landowners who want equality for their nephews and nieces, when it comes to farm inheritance.

“If you look at the succession issue in farming, we’ve got to make it more sustainable for young farmers to go out and not just inherit the farm, but to work the farm, in a way that is worth their while, and something that would be worth their while,” he said.

He said he is concerned that not enough young people are entering agriculture.

“The age profile is very clear [in farming] and we have to do better in terms of enabling young people to get into farming, and stick with it as an enjoyable, sustainable margin that can sustain food production,” he said.

The Taoiseach added that Ireland is an outlier when it comes to farm size, and therefore, it is important to protect its family farming model.

“We need to retain what’s best about Irish agriculture and farming because there’s a community link to that, and there’s an economic impact in rural areas.”

‘Actively looked at’

Also speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal stand, Tánaiste Simon Harris said inheritance tax is something that is being “actively looked at”.

He said the majority of the tax measures in Budget 2027 will involve changes to personal income tax to “put money back in people’s pockets”.

However, the Tánaiste said that there may still be an opportunity to have a look at things like capital acquisitions tax thresholds alongside such measures.

He said such changes could also indicate a “direction of travel” for future budgets.