INSTALLATION GRANT:ERIC DRIVER (24), from Shillelagh, Co Wicklow, was determined to set up his own farm in his own county because his "heart is in farming".
Eric, who comes from a farming background but has a father too young to retire, decided to go it alone and went to agriculture college for two years to qualify for a government grant which helps young farmers set up on their own. Studying in Kildalton college and Waterford DIT, he obtained a national certificate in agriculture, which also has a module in agribusiness.
He rented a farm for seven years, bought 130 ewes and 20 beef cows and agreed with the bank that when his farm installation aid of €15,000 came through, it would go directly to them to cover some of his debts.
However, there was a glitch in the paperwork, a problem getting title to the farm he was leasing. Then, to his horror, the Government suspended the farm installation scheme for new entrants in the last Budget.
"The form was in the process of being filled out and I hit a problem which many young farmers going this road hit, that of title to the lands they want to rent, and it is something out of our control," he said.
"The scheme was pivotal to my plans and in getting going in the way I did because of the €15,000 payment," he said as he attended the Macra na Feirme conference at the weekend in Galway, where he had come looking for solutions to his problem.
"I have the stock purchased and I have the land leased, which you have to take for seven years, and I have signed a legal document to say I will pay for that grass for the next seven years," he said.
"I am deeply indebted to the bank and they gave me the loan on the promise of me guaranteeing them that the €15,000 coming to me would go straight to them from the Department of Agriculture.
"I am so far in now that I do not know what I am going to do. My grass bill for the year is €8,700 and I have my stock and machinery which I had to get to do the improvements to qualify.
"My exposure at this stage is between €40,000 and €41,000 and I don't know where I am going to go next," he said.
Eric said he has been selling young cattle off the farm to help meet fertiliser and other bills.
"If I don't get the installation aid, it's going to be a very, very tough battle, and I don't know if the banks will allow me to fight that battle," he said.
Eric has an off-farm job selling tractors and managed the local mart because he has to but said he has no idea whether he will be able to achieve his dream.