5 days ago
The red tape that stalled farm loans — and the road back for Microfinance Ireland
Administrative arrangements with Microfinance Ireland to allow them to recommence lending to farmers are currently being finalised with the Department of Agriculture.
Over 10 years since 2013, Microfinance Ireland has made 182 loans to Irish farmers, totalling €3,252,368.
But this valuable source of credit for Irish farmers is cut off since 2023, until Microfinance Ireland
complies with new EU agriculture state aid requirements, including new legal arrangements for data sharing between Microfinance Ireland and the Department of Agriculture.
This has been the case since the EU's Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework ceased in December 2023, and Microfinance Ireland had to change over to providing loans under the newly applicable State Aid Framework, which is the De Minimis Regulation.
Now, agriculture minister Martin Heydon has told the Dáil a statutory instrument to allow the sharing of data between third-party agri-loan providers and his department has been finalised. It was signed into law on April 4 last, completing the first step to allow Microfinance Ireland to recommence lending to farmers.
The minister was answering a Dáil question from Fianna Fáil TD Albert Dolan.
Microfinance Ireland was set up by the government to help micro-enterprises that cannot get funding from the main banks.
It is a not-for-profit organisation that does not compete with the main banks, and predominantly supports start-ups, with loans at low interest rate charges relative to the credit risk.
Microfinance Ireland provides loans from €2,000 up to €50,000 to businesses that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by commercial lenders.
Since 2023, it has continued lending to non-agriculture businesses.
Microfinance Ireland assists businesses with fewer than 10 employees to meet payments for stock, working capital requirements, and other overhead expenses. In September 2024, Microfinance Ireland increased the permitted loan limit from €25,000 to €50,000.
The loan term is typically three years for working capital purposes, and can be extended to five years for capital expenditures.
Loan records indicate the main farming enterprises supported up to the end of 2023 were dairy and cattle farms, taking out 34 loans totalling €642,749, and 28 loans totalling €455,900, respectively.
There were 21 loans totalling €344,000 for mixed farming, 14 loans totalling €214,999 to support activities for animal production, 13 loans totalling €171,074 to horticultural growers, and 12 loans totalling €197,499 for poultry production.
Microfinance Ireland made 41 loans to farmers in 2020, totalling €950,600; 29 loans in 2021, totalling €558,300; 14 loans in 2022, totalling €255,024; and 14 loans in 2023, totalling €225,000. There were zero loans in 2024 and 2025 to agriculture.
Where Microfinance Ireland offers loans to farmers, it must ensure such loans comply with relevant EU state aid regulations.
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