Income support The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuiv, has welcomed the announcement in the Budget of the establishment of a Rural Social Scheme to provide a substitute in rural areas for community employment schemes.

The scheme, which will provide 2,500 places, is designed to provide ongoing income and employment support to small farmers who can no longer make a viable living on the land, according to Mr Ó Cuiv. The scheme will recognise that small farmers in receipt of social assistance are not unemployed, are not technically seeking work and also that they have a wealth of experience and talents that need to be preserved for future generations.

Those eligible for participation in the Rural Social Scheme will be farmers with a herd number who are in receipt (long term) of Farm Assist, Unemployment Assistance, Disability Assistance or Unemployment Benefit. Participants will receive a payment, which will provide a weekly amount in excess of what they currently receive from the Department of Social and Family Affairs and will be equivalent to what they would receive on similar schemes elsewhere.

It will be funded from savings made in social welfare payments and there will be an extra €10 million to cover wages, insurance and materials.