Farming on the edge of Ireland

Sherkin Island is a ruggedly beautiful place. Three kilometres off the coast of West Cork, it looks as if it has remained untouched for generations. With Cork to the north, Spain to the south and America to the west, it is an outpost for Ireland and an outpost for agriculture.

Farming has always been a challenge for those on the island but recent developments regarding land eligibility clawbacks have heaped further pressure on Sherkin and islands like it.

Sherkin has just 90 residents, three of whom are aged between 18 and 40. There are 10 registered herds with 350 cattle in total. There are no sheep on Sherkin and there hasn’t been a dairy enterprise since the 1970s. Back then, farmers made butter and sold it once a week on the mainland. Since then, much has changed and little has changed.

One of the 18- to 40-year-old residents is Seán O’Neill (32), who farms with his father, Mark. Seán has taken over the running of the farm and says the entire island has felt the brunt of cuts.

“I estimate that Sherkin Island has had a 27% cut to its farm payments between Single Farm Payment clawbacks, land eligibility and the like,” Seán says.

“There was about €55,000 in single payments coming onto the island and easily 27% has left again, mainly through land eligibility clawbacks. We’re in 2014 and with the supports we have, it may as well be 50 years ago, if I’m being honest,” he says.

Seán works in construction part-time on the mainland. Each morning he’s working, he boards his 13ft boat at 5.30am and makes the journey across to Baltimore Harbour. From there, it’s an hour’s drive to Cork for a day’s work before making his way back to the island to look after his farm and catch up with his wife and their four-month-old child.

Running a farming enterprise on Sherkin can be logistical nightmare and the islanders are at the constant behest of Mother Nature.

Farmers on the island have to plan around the frequency and suitable conditions for boats to travel. While passenger boats make their way to and from the mainland frequently, those for the transportation of rations, silage, equipment or even cattle brave the conditions just once a week, weather permitting.

“Getting cattle off to the mart can be tough,” Seán says. “It’s about €15/head just get a truck to come to us and to put them on the boat. Our problem lies in where we are from too. We are hugely dependent on the trade that day. We cannot bring them home again; we have to sell them and get whatever is going. That’s the long and the short of it,” he says.

Challenges

Veterinary cover is a problem. The nearest vet is in Skibbereen and should there be an emergency in the middle of the night, the chance of getting a vet is almost nil.

“We generally have to hope everything works out for the best,” O’Neill said.

While farming life is always a battle on Sherkin, farmers have been facing further challenges with the Department of Agriculture issuing land eligibility letters reclaiming money for land they deem not fit to claim an entitlement.

Michael Collins has been farming on the island all his life. His Single Farm Payments and other supports as well as the sale of stock in Skibbereen mart are his only income streams. Michael used to fish freshwater salmon but restrictions have limited that too. He can only fish non-commercially and for his own use.

Michael has 10 cows, 10 calves and a couple of weanlings. He farms on 26 hectares and the cattle roam his land 365 days a year – there is no slatted housing on his farm. In fact, there are only two slatted houses on the entire island.

In October he received the first half of his Single Farm Payment. However, in December when the second half was received, there was a letter informing him of a significant clawback. His 26 hectare payment was reduced to a payment for 24.06 hectares, leaving him down €1,128.

Michael’s entire farming income for 2013, including cattle sales, was less than €10,000. He said the clawback has been difficult to accept.

Standing in a near dilapidated farm shed, Michael describes how his land has been the subject of land eligibility clawbacks.

“The cattle are still roaming and using every inch of the land but now I’m not getting paid for all of it. It doesn’t make sense,” he says.

“I got no prior warning whatsoever. That annoyed me, to be honest. It was like some fella in an office in Dublin just drew a couple of red Xs through my land and left me fairly hit. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it – they just took it.

“I’m not looking for a lot, just enough to keep it all going – not like the payments to bankers for bonuses or Irish Water people. This is real life that they’re dealing with here. It’s my little business,” he says.

Commission

Minister Coveney, for his part, has said the policy of a targeted clawback of farmers’ Single Farm Payments is a necessary step in order to appease officials from the European Commission.

“Let me make this clear,” the Minister said at the ICSA AGM last week. “Me and my Department need to make the decision. Do we look at individual farmers and make penalties where there were over claims or do we allow the European Commission come in and give a broad, larger penalty to the overall farming community in Ireland? The fact is that 72% of farmers are compliant and the total clawback will be in the region of €20-€30m. Honestly, I don’t want to be taking money but if money was drawn down for land that isn’t eligible, then I have to,” he said.

Minister Coveney said other countries have been fined extensively by the European Commission for ineligible land. He said the fines would be much greater should the Commission implement the cuts. The Minister said he has made provision for an island support scheme as part of the Rural Development Programme but full details have yet to be released.

“Farming on Sherkin, Cape Clear or the Arans is a tough environment and I don’t want to see animals taken off the island,” he said.

Farmers on the island are not reassured.

“AEOS was not worth anything to us,” Martin O’Driscoll said.

“I’m out of REPS 4 now and with various other cuts here and there, I’m down €5,500. That’s impossible to make up. AEOS was useless, it didn’t provide for island farmers in any way at all. The entitlements we received were the same as farmers on the mainland. We’ve heard about the new island payment but the proof will be in the pudding and we’re not overly confident.”