New Succession Scheme Announced by Minister McConalogue
IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Alice Doyle has welcomed the announcement by Minister Charlie McConalogue of a new scheme to help towards the costs of legal and financial advice for farm succession planning.
The Succession Planning Advice Grant (SPAG) aims to encourage best practice in intergenerational land transfer to address, among other things, significant generational imbalances within farming.
The scheme will help vouched legal, accounting, and advisory costs, subject to a maximum payment of €1,500.
To qualify for this grant, the farmer must be 60 years or over, must be farming for a minimum of two years prior to the application and must have drawn down payments on at least a minimum of three hectares of land.
“IFA welcomes this new scheme which will be a benefit to farmers organising their farm succession plan,” Alice Doyle said.
“It is essential for every farmer to have a farm succession plan in place. There are complex legal and taxation rules that, if planned for, can be managed easily. With this new scheme in place, it will encourage farmers to avail of this grant and help plan the future of their farms,” she added.
The scheme will open from September 19, 2023, and paper application forms will be available at the National Ploughing Championships and from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) website.
An online information webinar for the new scheme is scheduled for the September 6, 2023, at 7pm.
