On the 7th of May 2008, the European Commission have published noticies from Member states in the Offical Jounral of the European Union (OJ). Information communicated by Member States was regarding State aid granted under Commission
Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises active in the production of agricultural products and amending Regulation (EC) No 70/2001.

One of the state aids concerned was Stamp Duty Relief for Farm Consolidation in Ireland. Aimed at all agriculture sectors the scheme will be introduced for a period of 19 months and is expected to cost 1.5 million euros per annum. The scheme is due to finish on the 30th of June 2008.

The purpose of the relief is to reduce the operating difficulties caused by land fragmentation and to     improve the viability and competitiveness of Irish farms by encouraging greater levels of farm consolidation.

The legal basis for the scheme is under Section 81C of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999, as introduced in Section 104 of the Finance Act 2007 and will be in the form of tax relief or tax repayment. The granting authority in this regard is the Revenue Commissioners, Dublin. The scheme will also require certification by the State agriculture and food development authority Teagasc.

The guidelines for this scheme include the following conditions:

1. Any qualifying sale and purchase of land by a farmer must involve:

• Areduction in the number of separate parcels of land comprised in a farm.
• An overall reduction in the distance between existing parcels comprised in a farm.

2. For 5 years the farmer must:

• Retain ownership of the exchanged land.
• Use it for farming.
• Spend more than 50 % of his/her normal working time farming.

3. The land must be in the State, agricultural or afforested, and contain no residential buildings.

An eligible farmer must apply to Teagasc with all relevant documentations and if satisfied, Teagasc will issue a farm consolidation certificate, which the farmer will then produce to the Revenue Commissioners to obtain stamp duty relief or repayment, as necessary.