Ireland has a good reputation for the production of high-quality food, achieved primarily on our family farms where there is traceability from farm to fork, but this is dependent on the continuation of the family farm. That is in danger because of the age profile of our farmers. I attended a briefing by Macra last week and some stark statistics were provided. Over one third of Irish farmers are over 65 years of age. Forty per cent have no identified successor, with 20% having no successor at all. Only 4.3% of our farmers are under 35 years of age. Macra is calling for a number of measures to address this, but one of them is a succession scheme. It has called for this for a long time. However, it wants one that works well and will encourage the farmer to pass on the farm to a family member or to enter into partnership. There is a partnership scheme where a farmer can pass on a farm to someone who is not related to him but Macra is calling for the removal of a three-year requirement for succession within that because it says it is acting as a barrier rather than an incentive. This is really important. We have to address it and it is not being addressed. I am aware it is an EU-wide issue as well. The age profile of farmers across the EU is quite high but in order to continue the production of high-quality food, we need to see the family farm thrive rather than going to corporate farming options.

Macra has called for other things, such as priority investment in targeted agricultural modernisation schemes, TAMS, 3 for young farmers because that will encourage efficiency, drive economic growth and create environmental benefits. They have many other asks to improve life in rural Ireland for young farmers. I have to say the president of Macra, Josephine O'Neill, is a very impressive young woman. We had a detailed conversation about all this. I would love to see a discussion with the Minister on the floor of the House about what we are going to do to address the age profile of the farmer in Ireland.