Good Budget but a worry over GLAS ‘slow start’

FARM leaders in Galway have given a guarded welcome to Budget 2015, but concerns have been expressed that no GLAS money will come on stream next year.

Co. Galway IFA Chairman, Pat Murphy, told the Farming Tribune that at best it seemed as if entry to the GLAS environmental scheme would not now start until September, 2015 at the earliest.

“The net result of this, is that farmers in Galway and the West will be struggling to get any GLAS monies at all next year and that is disappointing,” said Pat Murphy.

He did say however that the general thrust of the Budget for the farming community was positive with the tax relief measures for long term leasing of land, a very progressive move.

Under the tax relief measures for the long term leasing of land, a farmer leasing land for a five to seven year period, will be allowed to earn up to €18,000 tax free. This tax free figure increases incrementally to €40,000 if the lease is for over 15 years.

Pat Murphy said that the extension of the Stamp Duty relief (50%) for the transfer of the family farm to a related person until the end of 2017, was also a very welcome move.

He said that the €100 payment for the first 10 calved cows was also to be welcomed in terms of the suckler farming sector, which was operating on very tight margins and was the backbone of the Irish beef sector.

An extra €17 million in the TAMS Scheme (Targeted Modernisation) should also be of significant assistance especially to dairy farmers in the post-quota era from April of next year, said Pat Murphy.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.