Fine Gael, the Green Party and Independent Ireland all pledged that they would introduce a farm retirement scheme if they are involved in the next Government.

Martin Heydon suggested that a mentorship scheme for farmers who want to pass on their enterprise and that the existing farm succession partnership scheme and the succession planning advisory grant should be improved.

“Fine Gael wants to see a retirement scheme, but not like the old model.

“Not like the model where a farmer in his/her late 50s, who has so much corporate knowledge built up, was afraid to get caught walking across the farmyard with a bucket because they’d lose the entire payment.”

However, Pippa Hackett believed that the previous retirement scheme would only need small changes before being reintroduced.

“It probably is a failing of this Government that we haven’t come up with a [retirement scheme]. In the 1990s was the last time we had one and I think it worked pretty well.

“We have a model of how it kind of worked. We, maybe, don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

In addition, Independent Ireland’s Eddie Punch repeated his party’s plans to introduce such a scheme.

“The retirement scheme has to deliver real money, which is in addition to the old age pensions.

“It has to be a mix of more Exchequer funding and more money in the CAP. To be clear, we can provide more money in pillar two.”