Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is going in the right direction, but he is not going far enough. If he studies the value of any type of property, be it a farm or any other asset, he will see that it is going up. At the end of the day, we have politicians in here who do not understand anything to do with farming, or with the value of land or any other type of property. They think that because a farm is worth a certain amount of money, that is something the farmer has. The Minister for agriculture understands this, but many Deputies in here have yet to grasp this nettle. I will explain easily what would happen if you were handed a farm tomorrow morning for nothing - if it was just given to you and you did not have to pay any capital gains or anything - and you were told to take that farm and make a living off it. The amount of land that is transferred in Ireland is minuscule. Why? Because it is transferred. People do not look on it as an asset or something that is worth €300,000, €400,000, €500,000 or €1 million. It makes no difference what it is worth because you are not bloody well selling it. What people are trying to do is just make a living and a profit out of it so they can call it a week's wages. People in here who are fully convinced talk about big farmers because they have a valuable farm. It does not matter if your farm is in the Black Valley or in County Kildare if all you are trying to do is make a living out of it. Again, people in here propagate this idea that whether it is houses or land or whatever it is, it is worth something. It is worth nothing unless you are selling it. If you are only holding it and trying to make a living out of it to pass it on to the next generation, people with farms adore their ground and all they want to do is improve it. I am saying the Government is not going far enough. If anybody looks at the way values have increased, they will see that this is not going far enough. When people inherit an asset, on the many occasions the first thing that happens is that they struggle to pay the tax.

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