The 20% clawback on the sale of CAP entitlements without land could be set aside under new proposals from the Department of Agriculture.

The new measures could affect close to 30,000 farmers.

The proposals aim to encourage a shift in entitlements, through sale or increased long-term leasing, from armchair farmers to active farmers.

The Department has proposed:

  • Lifting the 20% clawback on the sale of entitlements without land for years 2023 and 2024 only.
  • Introducing a 10% clawback on entitlements when over 80% of an individual’s entitlements are leased out for less than five years from 2023. It is envisaged that this proposal will only apply to entitlement leases established from 1 January 2023.
  • The Department stated that allowance will be made for inheritance and force majeure cases. Currently, there is a 20% clawback on the sale of entitlements, but no clawback on leases.

    The proposal to change the clawback to those leasing out more than 80% of their entitlements for less than five years is likely to affect more than 2,500 farmers.

    These transactions represent a value of approximately €9m.

    Department figures show that 324,659 payment entitlements were transferred in 2020, with the trade worth more than €62m.