New lobbying legislation came into effect in Ireland on 1 September 2015. The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 requires those who lobby designated public officials to register and report on their lobbying activities.

Lobbyists must make returns of lobbying activity every four months, with the first returns being due by 21 January 2016.

According to the online register, which is accessible to the public on lobbying.ie, young farmer organisation Macra na Feirme has filed six returns since the new legislation came into effect. So far, it is the only body in the agricultural sector to have done so.

All the returns were filed on Wednesday 16 December and cover a range of policy areas within the sector. Since 1 September 2015, Macra president Sean Finan has lobbied Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to get partnership farmers included in the new CAP 2015-2020.

This particular issue, which we reported on last week, concerns approximately 250 old young farmers who have fallen into the trap of not receiving any young farmer benefits, despite the fact that they pioneered partnerships. Despite Macra’s lobbying, there is no resolution in sight as yet for these farmers.

CEO of Macra, Edmond Connolly, and agri affairs specialist Derrie Dillon lobbied assistant secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Paul Dillon, on the same issue at the 2015 National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois.

The fourth return reveals that Sean Finan lobbied Coveney, also at the Ploughing, to make eligibility for GLAS and the scheme’s design relevant to young farmers. We understand this lobbying was mainly in relation to the narrowed range of choices for farmers in the second tranche of GLAS that opened during the Ploughing. Despite the lobbying, there was no change to the range of options open to farmers in this tranche.

The fifth highlights lobbying carried out to secure funding for rural entrepreneurs that took place in the lead up to Budget 2016. Macra was not the only agricultural body to lobby for this support before the budget, which is perhaps why there was a degree of success in this latter policy.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan announced changes to the taxation of the self-employed, which includes entrepeneurs, in the budget in October. The self-employed saw their tax liability fall with the introduction of a new €550 tax credit and reduced Universal Social Charge rates.

Finally, Derrie Dillon, Edmond Connolly and Sean Finan have lobbied since 1 September to make access to funding achievable for young farmers, specifically for partnerships and collaborative arrangements, CAP Pillar 2 schemes, and access to credit.

According to Dillon, this meeting, which took place with Minister Coveney and special adviser to the Department of Agriculture Áine Kilroy in Government Buildings on 20 October, focused on the need to increase young farmers’ chances of securing access to credit.

The main topic of conversation was the need to amend the Rural Development Programme so as to put in place a financial instrument that allows young farmers to draw down funds from the European Investment Bank.

While this has yet to go ahead, Dillon says he would not be surprised to see some movement on this from the Government before the 2016 general election.

Other farm organisations

A spokesperson for the largest farm lobbying organisation in the country, the Irish Farmers Association, says the association has been recording lobbying activity on the online database on an ongoing basis but it has not yet been formally submitted. "We will submit a final return before the end of the reporting period," the spokesperson said.