The recession is forcing hundreds of Co Galway farmers, who never had any connection with Social Welfare, to make an application for Farm Assist this year.
According to Fine Gael Galway East TD Paul Connaughton the economic downturn, “disastrous farming conditions”, and poor weather conditions have conspired “to push farmers onto the dole queue”.
“There is now no sector in farming making a profit,” said Dep Connaughton. “Milk is now produced on all dairy farms below the cost of production and the grain farmers now face the twin evils of sodden fields and the lowest price for grain in years.”
Dep Connaughton said this is causing large and small farmers to turn to Farm Assist. He added that cutbacks to the REPS scheme, the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme, and the Area Based Payment will “hit farmers very hard this autumn and early winter”, driving even more onto Farm Assist.
There are more than 8,000 farmers nationally in receipt of Farm Assist with 1,300 new applications sent in since the beginning of the year.
The 2009 weekly rate for Farm Assist is €204.30 for an individual plus €135.60 for a qualified adult (ie spouse ) with €26 for each child.
Dep Connaughton said Farm Assist is a means assessed scheme and all farmers are advised to have as many receipts as possible so application can be processed quickly. For the means test farm income is assessed at 70 per cent from the farm profit and there is also important disregard for REPS, with the first €2,540 exempt from calculation and 50 per cent of the remainder.
