Oireachtas Committee in bid to aid retirees

ALLOWING retired farmers to qualify for “farmer” grant aid for forestry has been proposed to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food.

“One of the greatest inequities created by the 1994 and 2000 retirement schemes was participants were deemed to have ceased farming”, said Ollie Wilkinson, TD, who was asked by the Committee to review and report on the schemes.

In his report, he said that farmers who wished to put their land into forestry after taking part in the retirement scheme cannot obtain the “farmer” rate of forestry aid, which is double the non-farmer rate.