The Government has proposed a scheme of a new Farm Succession Transfer Partnership Model. This would provide for a profit sharing agreement and for the transfer of a farm to a younger farmer at the end of a specified period not exceeding 10 years. There are approximately 1,500 farm partnerships in Ireland today.

It is expected that such a scheme would increase certainty about the timing of the transfer of a family farm to the next generation and greatly assist with long term planning and productivity. Such a partnership model would enable a gradual transfer of control and would also facilitate the transfer of knowledge and expertise from one generation to another.

Under the proposed scheme, where a farmer wishes to pass his or her farm to the next generation of young trained farmers, they can form a "Succession Farm Partnership”. Ownership of 80% of the land will have to be passed to the next generation within 10 years. An income tax credit of up to ?5,000 per annum for five years will be allocated to the partnership, to be split between the partners and in accordance with the profit sharing agreement.

It is proposed that to benefit from the tax incentives the young person must be under 40. Therefore, if they are 36 when they enter the partnership, they will only get 4 years of tax credits.

Under Budget 2016, in addition to the above proposed scheme a number of existing relief for farmers are being extended to 2018, namely General Stock Relief, Stock Relief for Farming Partnerships, Stock Relief for Young Trained Farmers, and the Stamp Duty Exemption for Young Trained Farmers.

Fiona Ormond Solicitors

Suite 19 The Atrium,

Maritana Gate,

Canada Street,

Waterford.

Tel: 051 841654,

Email: fiona@fionaormond.ie,

http://www.fionaormond.ie

Article does not constitute legal advice.

A group of young social innovators from Newtown School in Waterford City have launched an education and community partnership project. The young Newtown students are enthusiastic about piloting their very own "Hares on the March Waterford” project in association with the Jack and Jill Foundation.

They have enlisted the help of students in Mount Sion CBS, Christchurch NS, Waterpark College and Waterford Youth Arts to decorate 10 pieces of "Hare art” to bounce into the Waterford City in early 2016. "Hares on the March” is a Jack and Jill Foundation public arts initiative that will see 100 unique pieces of art in the form of giant hares decorated by well known Irish artists adorn the streets of Dublin as well as Waterford now, thanks to the initiative of these students.

A unique "Hares on the March” art and fitness trail display will be launched in 2016. The hand crafted hares are designed to become highly collectable and valuable works of art and will be hosted by Waterford businesses throughout January and February 2016. An invitation to find the hares, take photos and win some prizes is sure to be a novel and fun way to promote fit for people of all ages and a real opportunity for people to become tourists in their own city. Funds raised through sponsorship, adoption, and eventually auctioning of the hares will raise much needed funds for the charity.

The Jack and Jill Foundation, now in operation for 18 years, provide home nursing care to over 1800 children with severe disabilities who require around the clock care in their own homes. They support children in every community and a campaign like this means a lot to our families in terms of reminding them that there are artists and young people out there, ready willing and able to use their skill to produce wonderful art for an initiative that allows us to raise awareness and funds.

People become friends with the Hares on the March Waterford via Facebook follow them on twitter @Hareswaterford. If you would like further information about how to get involved please contact haresonthemarchwaterford@gmail.com

Adults and children alike will want to be in City Square this Friday night as the shopping centre hosts an exciting pre-Christmas Discount Shopping Event from 5pm to 9pm. A shoppers paradise awaits as the Debenhams mid-season sale will be in full swing and most the stores in the centre will be offering exclusive discounts for one night only. This is a once off opportunity to bag a bargain before the Christmas shopping rush begins.

However that is not all, Santa himself will drop in to check on the children of Waterford and to turn on the Christmas lights. At 7pm Santa will arrive at the Peter St entrance on a motorised trike with Mrs Claus and he will turn on the light at 7.30pm. There will be live music on the mall from 6pm to 9pm. Earlier in the day WLRfm will broadcast live from the centre between 3 and 6pm with favourite DJ Oliver Carroll playing the tracks in preparation for the Discount night ahead. Its not just the stores offering discounts as parking is just ?2 for 3 hours from 5pm.

Centre Manager Alan Weston said "last year we introduced this event and it was a huge success and this year we want to make it bigger and better so we are starting at 5pm to give people even more time to avail of the great discounts.” Details of the actual store offers will be published on the City Square website and facebook page on Thursday.

There is a very positive atmosphere around City Square at the moment with the new owners officially confirmed and they have exciting plans to upgrade the look and shopping offer in City Square which will be a major boost to Waterford city centre.

Santa will return to City Square on Saturday 28th November where he will have a grotto at the top of the escalator beside Kylemore.

Preparations for the 2015 Festive Fillies Fundraiser are now in full swing. The Festive Fillies have raised more than ?150,000 to date for many worthy charities locally and nationally. This year’s five chosen recipients are The Friends and Family of the Sacred Heart School Waterford, The Jonah Project, Slieverue. Pieta House Waterford, Down Syndrome Ireland (Waterford & South Kilkenny Branch) and The Ray of Sunshine Foundation. The above charities have been chosen because they receive little or no Government Funding.

The fundraiser will be held in the Tower Hotel, The Mall, Waterford on Saturday, 28th November. An evening that promises glitz and glamour, it is the Fillies main event of the year where 250 ladies all join together and raise funds for charities close to their hearts. These ladies have the wow factor, the ladies will be wined, dined and will dance the night away to ‘Keith McDonald and his Show band’ so we are assured of a packed dance floor. Celebrity chef Edward Hayden will be our master of ceremonies again this year everyone who attended last year enjoyed Edwards good humour and charm and we really look forward to welcoming him back and thank him for his continued support.

Tickets cost ?55 this includes a Prosecco Reception, a 4 course meal and live entertainment into the early hours. A big raffle will take place on the night with many prizes on offer such as Hotel Breaks, Iphones, Tablets, Televisions, Spa Vouchers and many more. All funds raised go towards supporting the five charities.

We encourage you to support this charity event in any way you can and assure you that you are guaranteed a wonderful nights entertainment while at the same time helping much deserving charities. The Festive fillies would also like to thank all our local and national sponsors for their generosity over the last seven years and we in turn encourage our 250 ladies to support you. If you would like to be involved and avail of the publicity on the night please contact any of the committee we would be delighted to talk to you. Tickets are available from committee members so should you wish to attend this wonderful Christmas Party Night please contact Susan Walsh on 087 1301059.

Thanks to all who have supported us over the years and we look forward to seeing you again.

It is Budget time once again!

The 2015/2016 national budget is now behind us and we are just awaiting some last minute discussions in the Dáil, some machinations in the Seanad, and then the final approval of the Finance Bill, traditionally, sometime in February and then it will be all over for another year and it could well be the last budget delivered by the FG/Labour coalition as we move inextricably towards the promised "E-A-R-L-Y” spring election. Before we know it, it will be 2016 and we will all have forgotten about Mr Noonan’s last budget.

However, for us in Waterford, there is another budget looming on the horizon – the Waterford City and County Council budget.

As the Council begin to mull over their financial figures and projections for 2016, we are once again nearer the time for our Council Executive and our Council Representatives to vote on the 2016 budget, which will be somewhere around the ?132,000,000 mark! It is a time for us to see how our representatives perform in what is seen by many as their most fundamental task.

Will the proposed budget be passed? Will we see pact voting? Will we see strategic voting? Will we see a genuine forensics analysis of the budget figures?

This is the time of year when our public representatives earn their corn and it really is a time of year when we hope that they will look at the bigger picture, rather than a parochial view of their own wards, and make the right decisions that will drive economic investment back into the City Centre and further afield across the whole County. Failure to understand the economics of making sound budgetary decisions will have a profound effect on how we perform as a City and County in 2016.

This budget sets out the Council’s spending plans for 2016 and also sets income targets on big ticket items such as the Commercial Rates collection which in the last budget was circa ?32,000,000, it sets the household charges, car parking charges and all the other associated cost centres that will allow the Council to operate for the next 12 months. We will also see spending plans outlined and discussed such as the delivery of the Waterford City Centre Urban Renewal Plans, festival spending budgets, roads maintenance plans, housing spending and much, much more besides.

The headline figures for businesses will, of course, be the Commercial Rates collection amounts and whether or not these will remain the same, increase or ideally, for businesses to invest, these should be reduced by up to 20%. A rates reduction will encourage investment, will increase employment and will make for a better City Centre.

Alas, I feel that these will remain the same as the last two years and yet the brave decision has to be the introduction of a significant reduction to help struggling City Centre businesses. Any offset in the reduction of rates will be collected with new businesses starting up and a significant rates reduction will go some way to encouraging the retail brands the City is currently missing to invest in Waterford. In addition a better retail mix will drive increased footfall and this in turn will also encourage more business start-ups and these new businesses will pay their share in commercial rates. Win Win!

Another brave decision would be the reduction in car parking charges and, if the Council take the lead in this process, then the private owners have to follow suits. This is still the elephant in the room and until we tackle this issue we will find it increasingly difficult to encourage the people on the "Dunmore Road” into the City Centre never mind further afield.

I still wonder if, due to their free car parking passes, our representatives see the car parking as an issue or perhaps they drive around wearing rose tinted glasses.

After all, if it costs you nothing, zero, nada, nil to park your car in Waterford City and County why would there be a problem?

The Barrack Street Concert Band would like to invite all interested parties to an Open Day in their Bandroom at Green Street on Saturday, November 14th at 12 pm. This will serve as an introduction to the band’s music academy, (pictured right),which has been set up as a preparation ground for learner musicians before they join the senior band.

For many it is their first experience to play with other musicians and discover the wonderful world of music. It is also a valuable opportunity for those who wish to practice skills under expert tuition, that will enable them to develop their musical careers.

On the day demonstrations will be given in all brass, woodwind and percussion instruments and those attending will be given the opportunity to participate. So whether you are an aficionado or absolute beginner please come along and enjoy the information and hospitality and maybe become a member of one of Waterford’s living legends, the Barrack Street Concert Band, playing music in our city since 1870 and still going strong.

Decade of Centenaries - Deich mBliana na gCuimhneachán

Waterford Treasures is preparing a permanent exhibition to commemorate the 1916 Rising. Was anyone in your family a member of any of the following organisations in Waterford in the years before 1922?

- Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League)

- Sinn Féin

- Cumann na mBan

- Fianna Éireann

- Irish Volunteers

- Irish Republican Brotherhood

- Irish Republican Army

- Gaelic Athletic Association

We are appealing to the people of Waterford to help us tell their story by donating or loaning items for possible inclusion in this permanent exhibition in the Bishop’s Palace.

We are especially interested in acquiring artefacts including medals, military equipment, original photographs, letters, postcards, diaries, flags or official documents etc.

If you have historic objects from this period that you would like to donate or loan to the museum please bring them along to Waterford Treasures (Medieval Museum) on

Friday 13th November 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

Saturday 14th November 10.00 am – 1.00 pm

For further information please contact Donnchadh Ó Ceallacháin at Waterford Treasures

Telephone: 0761 10 2648 E-mail: do’ceallachain@waterfordcouncil.ie

Waterford is set to host its first ever Thanksgiving Party this November 26th at the Medieval Museum and all in the aid of Focus Ireland and The Samaritans. The event is being jointly hosted by Waterford Chamber, Winterval, Waterford Chamber Skillnet and Every Event.

The Thanksgiving Festive party offers the business community an opportunity to choose the event as their office festive celebration plus the chance for all the grown ups to enjoy the full Winterval experience with the added benefit of it all being for charity!

The evening will commence with a very special showing of the Winterval 3d light illumination show at Cathedral Square, complete with Muldoon Hot Chocolate and popcorn. After the show, guests will make their way into the Medieval Museum and warm up with a hot whiskey or Thin Gin cocktail compliments of Muldoon Whiskey.

Sponsors Liberty Blue are hosting a wine reception in the Undercrofts and Flavourhaus will be offering a selection of festive treats. Then it’s time to visit Santa in his grotto, sponsored by Shellac Nails. At this point guests are asked to bring a small donation or gift to give to Santa and all the proceeds will go to the local services of the chosen charities Focus Ireland and the Samaritans. Of course a trip to Santa wouldn’t be the same unless you got a gift too...so Purple Flag Waterford will be giving out some festive Santa hats and you may even get a gift or two from Shellac Nails!

After that it’s time for fun and games, take selfies in the snow, grab a drink at the bar, thanks to The Reg, enjoy some tasty desserts compliments of Cakeface and on leaving pick up your special gift made just for you by Waterford Traditional Skills.

Speaking about the event Waterford Chamber President Mr. Michael O’Dwyer said: "This is a fun event, which is already appealing to businesses as an alternative Christmas party night, but there is a poignant message behind it too. We are there to give thanks for what we have and support those less fortunate. It has been fantastic to partner with Skillnet, Every Event and Winterval and we are deeply indebted to our sponsors Shellac Nails, Liberty Blue and Muldoon Whiskey. They have been hugely supportive since the get go and I hope the public will come out and help us raise much needed funds for two deserving charities.”

Focus Ireland works with families, children and young people at risk of homelessness or who are homeless. Focus Ireland has been providing housing and homeless services in Waterford for over 15 years. Last year the demand on Focus Ireland services increased by over 35%. Shockingly one in four now homeless is a child and 1500 children across Ireland will be homeless with their families this Christmas. In addition to providing long and short-term housing in Waterford, Focus Ireland services include advice and information to those at risk of homelessness, childcare facilities, educational services, and aftercare for young people coming out of state and residential care. So far in 2015 alone Focus Ireland in Waterford has supported over 100 families and over 220 children through services provided in Waterford City and County.

The local branch of the Samaritan’s is run on a completely voluntary basis offering a free phone service every day of the year 24 hours a day for people who need support in times of emotional distress. They also run an outreach programme with a number of schools throughout the region, speaking to students on emotional health and supporting them in times of conflict. According to the Samaritans, it is ok to feel "not ok” as long as it doesn’t stay that way for too long. In 2014, the local branch had contact with 21,110 people with a total of 7360 listening hours. To speak to the Samaritans, call the free phone number 116 123.

To support both charities and have a fun night out at the same time, tickets must be booked in advance as the event is ticket only. Tickets are now on sale at the nominal fee of ?20 to book cntact Lynda Lawton at Waterford Chamber on 051 311130 or email lynda.lawton@waterfordchamber.ie

Portuguese eye healthcare specialists

The biggest ever single group of visitors to Bausch + Lomb’s Waterford plant took place when 68 Portuguese opticians and other eye health specialists toured the facility and met with senior management and employees. The tour was led by Bausch + Lomb Portugal’s Rui Amaral, area manager and Patricia Rocha, product manager.

"Our customers were extremely impressed by the level of technology, automation and innovation which they experienced during their tour of the manufacturing facility," said Rui Amaral. "For many of them, this was their first experience of visiting a state-of-the art contact lens manufacturing facility and they were surprised by the complexity of the plant and indeed, by its sheer size.

Presentations were made to the Portuguese group by Damain Finn, general manager and by others including Dr. Joe Dowling and Rudi Montez. The group also met with senior managers Stephen Doyle; Breda Furlong; Pamela Mackey; Mark Fitzgerald; Mark Hennessy and Mary O’Brien.

"The team in Waterford are always pleased to have the opportunity to showcase our manufacturing site and we welcome the chance to have key opinion leaders gain an even better insight into how great our lenses are," said Mary O’Brien, who hosted the visit.

Two weeks ago in this paper Fine Gael Minister Paudie Coffey made the false political charge that "After 4.5 years in opposition Fianna Fáil have not put forward a Jobs Policy." The Minister was welcoming the fact that the Live Register in Waterford had fallen to its lowest level since December 2008.

Firstly, I too would like to welcome the fact that fewer people in Waterford are in need of social welfare support.

However, I would like to point out a couple of things to the Minister.

Fianna Fáil has produced comprehensive job creation proposals every year for the last five years including policies that would regenerate towns and rural communities. Unfortunately Fine Gael’s policies have been proven to be regressive and hit those least able to cope the most.

The Minister will take serious issue with that charge – but it’s a finding that has been made by the ESRI, not Fianna Fáil.

Fianna Fáil has never given up on being ambitious for Waterford, unlike Fine Gael. It is Fine Gael that took four years to launch the South East Action Plan for Jobs. It is Fine Gael that prioritised health investment in Kilkenny and Wexford and allowed Waterford to become more of satellite health service to Cork.

The Minister is very keen to talk about Fianna Fáil’s record in Government and hope that that’s enough for people to forget his own. While Fine Gael and Labour have been breaking their promises in Government while Fianna Fáil has produced over 40 comprehensive policy documents and over 100 legislative bills, almost all rejected entirely out of hand by Fine Gael.

Our job creation proposals include:

- Providing progressive relief from employers’ PRSI

- Extending social protection supports to the self-employed

- Establishing a fully licensed state enterprise bank

- Incentivising crowd-funding to provide credit directly to SMEs

- Making commercial rates work for business by revamping the system

Fine Gael has lost the run of itself. Enda Kenny has become more erratic in his comments about how far he has brought the country in the last four years. Paudie Coffey and Enda Kenny would do well to remember that it is the people of Waterford and across the country that have driven the recovery in Ireland, not them.

Homelessness is the most visible and extreme consequence of a failure of housing policy, and we could soon see whole families living on the streets or in parks, or spending the night in Garda stations or hospital A&E departments says Fr McVerry

Waterford Institute of Technology’s (WIT) School of Humanities welcomes Fr Peter McVerry SJ, founder of the The Peter McVerry Trust to give a talk on the topic of: ‘Housing and homelessness: a failure of social policy?’

Taking place a month from Christmas day, this is one of a number of events organised every semester by the Religious Studies and Theology research group in the Department of Applied Arts where religious studies is an option on the Bachelor of Arts (Hons), a three-year level 8 degree programme.

Fr McVerry will talk about the failure of housing policy, the transfer by Government of responsibility for social housing to the private sector, and the need for emergency legislation to address the problem of homelessness which continues to grow at an alarming rate.

"Housing is the most fundamental of human rights, as without a home it is almost impossible to have access to the other basic human rights, namely adequate food, health care, education training or to employment. Hence the Government’s first responsibility is to ensure that all citizens have a suitable home at a cost they can afford," he said.

"Homelessness is the most visible and extreme consequence of a failure of housing policy. It is spiralling out of control. While it is most evident in urban areas, it will become an issue in every county in Ireland, as home repossessions begin to gather pace. Each home repossessed is potentially a household plunged into homelessness."

In particular, the number of families becoming homeless is increasing month by month. In 2012, seven or eight families were becoming homeless; in the second half of this year, an average of 73 families per month were becoming homeless. And there is nowhere for them to go.

"We may shortly see whole families living on the streets or in parks, or spending the night in Garda stations or hospital A&E departments," said Fr McVerry.

Event details

Housing and homelessness: a failure of social policy?’ - Fr Peter McVerry in conjunction with Waterford Institute of Technology’s (WIT) School of Humanities

Wednesday, 25 November, 6.30pm-7.30pm

Auditorium, Main Building, WIT Main Campus, Cork Road

Entry is free, open to the public and booking is not required.

Michael Garland,

bizBoost Chair,

Waterford Business Group

Done and dusted

As Winterval comes to the end of its first week we can look forward to a busy Christmas and hopefully the many businesses in and around the City Centre will see a much needed boost in sales that will carry them through into 2016. In 2016 all we can hope for as a Christmas present is a much bigger slice of the recovery cake and that all the headline promises we have read and heard about in our local media will be delivered by those making the promises.

Remember, it is very dangerous to over promise!

Waterford’s Four are now in election mode and are willing to promise delivery on projects that in truth should have been delivered months and years ago. No doubt over the next few weeks and months we will be endlessly bombarded with just how lucky we have been in terms of investment. So we really must ask ourselves if what has come our way is good enough or can be accepted as the absolute minimum that was needed to be delivered over the lifetime of the last Government. I would advocate that Government has under delivered for Waterford.

The simple fact is that more should have come Waterford’s way over the last number of years and we must all understand that any investment, that has managed to travel down the M9 from Dublin, has not been nearly enough and, yes, we may well sit at the top table but we are still feeding off the crumbs thrown to us and we have still not been invited to choose from the menu.

At the last Waterford Council plenary meeting, held in Dungarvan, the Council passed the Waterford City Centre Urban Renewal Scheme. A Scheme that will see circa €4,000,000 come from Government and circa €4,000,000 come from Waterford Council. Why ALL the money for the Scheme cannot come from Government I do not know!

The final meaty document contains all the plans, altered plans and reference to the 76 submissions from organisations, groups, individuals, businesses and Councillors – well 4 Councillors to be very precise.

Councillors Mulligan, Kelly, O’Neill and Daniels appear to be the only four Councillors out of our 32 good men and women of the Council, who seem to have been bothered to lodge a written submission. I will hazard a guess that many more will claim a significant input, behind closed doors, in committee, to this development document – but it would have been fitting for us, members of the public, to be able to actually read and dissect our Councillors input and observations, so that we can judge for ourselves the level of that input.

The final document is now done and dusted and all indications are that the work will start early in 2016 with the promise that no work on reducing car parking spaces will commence until the gas works car park is delivered – first mooted for completion some 4 or 5 years ago!

During last week’s Metropolitan Council meeting we heard that the demolition for the North Quay was also done and dusted (again) and the work would start in the New Year. However, not many people will realise that we are to be left with piles of "concrete road foundation stones" of around 5cm square.

This substrate will be left on the North Quay until such times as it can be used.

The debacle that was the broadcast centre roundabout is now done and dusted. People power made all the difference and I have no doubt that this engineering master class has seen the Council receive the most amounts of complaints since records began.

It just goes to show that when we all work together mountains can be moved. Unfortunately, social media was almost instantaneously awash with Councillors claiming individual credit for what really should have been acknowledged as a remarkable team effort to turn around an experiment that a five year old Lego user could see would not work.

Ollie Breslin, Creative Director Imagine Festival & Artistic Director of Waterford Youth Arts by Eleanor O Connor

October was a hectic month for Ollie Breslin, Creative Director of the Imagine Festival in Waterford city. The future looked uncertain for the festival at one stage this year when they had their funding unexpectedly cut by the arts council.

However the festival, which is now in its fourteenth year, went ahead with a diverse range of acts which promoted the best of local arts mixed with top national and international acts.

The Imagine festival is completely manned by volunteers. Ollie tells me “we try to respond to what people want. Imagine is a community based festival which is accessible to all. This is the one time of year when we can see really top acts in Waterford without having to travel”. He adds that “Waterford is a very creative city with a lot of talent. I would be really confident that in the next few years we will see more and more people coming out of Waterford making a name for themselves.”

"There is no fixed formula for the popular community based festival” he points out "it’s about change and meeting the needs of the people. We are evaluating Imagine at the moment and we are asking people to contact us and let us know what they thought of the festival. Is there anything they would like to see in the future? Please get in touch! We are always looking for new blood, new ideas so anyone who would like to get involved we look forward to talking to you!! We are also eager for local businesses to get on board .”

Ollie wasn’t always involved in the arts. After finishing school he studied to be a draftsman and then took some time out to travel working his way around most of Europe and even as far afield as Sudan. With his travels behind him he came back to Waterford and one evening he attended a meeting for a new drama club "Cuitog” set up by Ted O’Regan - he was taking the place of a friend who couldn’t go. He was offered a place in the company and in his own words it changed his life

As well as being involved in The Imagine festival he is also artistic director of Waterford Youth Arts who are celebrating thirty years in Waterford this year. Waterford Youth Arts is a youth and community arts resource which enables young people to participate in creative activity as a means of self- expression. It has gained in popularity and is recognized as one of Ireland’s leading youth arts organizations and is a great outlet for young people to hone their creative talents in a safe and nurturing environment - many have used it as a launch pad to further their careers in the arts with a roll call of past attendees including: rte., technicians, sound engineers.

Ollie is adamant that "We are all different. Not every young person fits into the academic field and the arts can be a really good avenue for them to explore. There is a code of conduct in place in WYA Ollie tells me: we don’t slag each other, we don’t put each other down and we support each other. The idea is that its ok you

come in and have a go and we’ll support you… if you make this place a bit safe well then when you go out into the world you can be a bit brave. If you support young people who are in a vulnerable situation they will repay you tenfold.”

Just as life is full of change Ollie tells me that his "priority right now is to make sure that there is a smooth transition between myself and the next generation. I want both these organizations to carry on and I do think that if a person in their thirties were running WYA for example they could take it in totally different ways."

He has no plans to retire though he’s just making sure both organizations continue to grow so future generations can enjoy them just as we are!!