An appeal to the EU to change the rules covering the Early Retirement Scheme for farmers was made yesterday at a conference which was told that more than 45 per cent of Irish farmers are over 55. The Irish Farmers' Association president, Mr Tom Parlon, said a large number of farmers could retire at 55 and their farms could be taken over and extended by younger people if amendments were made to the scheme. He said the Government and the EU must recognise that only 12 per cent of Irish farmers are under 35, which created even more problems for qualification under the scheme.
The scheme was introduced as part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 1994, but only 8,000 farmers here have taken the retirement option and 80 per cent of these were in Munster and Leinster.
The interest in Connacht/Ulster, where most elderly farmers live, has been much lower because the EU insists that the young person taking over must be a full-time farmer. Mr Parlon said this no longer reflected the reality of Irish agriculture, especially in the west, where farmers have to rely on off-farm income to survive. At the conference in Maynooth, attended by over 200 farmers, he called on the EU to remove the clause. Mr Gerry Gunning of the IFA said a requirement that the young farmer must extend the holding by 10 per cent was creating serious difficulties for young farmers everywhere.
"Land is a scarce resource in Ireland and the competition for small parcels of land can be very fierce. There is competition from commercial farms, forestry and the construction industry," he said.
The chief executive of the Retirement Planning Council of Ireland, Ms Hilary Shannon, urged farmers contemplating retirement not to worry about money or health problems. Figures compiled by the Eastern Health Board had shown that of those who retired at 65 or older, only 5 per cent would need full-time care. Between 12 and 17 per cent would manage with some outside help, and 78 per cent would manage very well without any outside help.