Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue is looking “outside of the CAP” for a solution to the forgotten farmers issue. It is estimated that there are 3,500 forgotten farmers, who missed out on installation grants, young farmer top-ups and other schemes in the last CAP. There is a commitment in the Programme for Government to resolve the support issue for these farmers.

The minister told the INHFA meeting last week that there is capacity to financially support these farmers. “I am looking at it outside of the CAP. They are a category of farmer that genuinely missed out. It was unfortunate timing which was no fault of theirs,” he said. Former INHFA president Colm O’Donnell said that there should be a category in the national reserve to support these farmers.