A second €100m Brexit beef fund is needed for beef farmers, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“Given that the original market disturbance fund of €100m dealt with the reference period September to May, for a significant reduction in price, what’s happened since May has significantly been worse.
“We are looking at something of a similar order,” he said.
The party introduced a private members motion in the Dáil on Wednesday, calling for another Brexit compensation scheme for farmers.
“Obviously the Government has to engage with the European Commission on that but it seems to me that the logical is inescapable, if it was deemed necessary for the September to May period, it surely follows that it should be necessary for the May to now period,” he said.
Without the farmer and primary producer, they’re going nowhere
Martin said that he thinks the Government was “far too slow” in reacting to the beef crisis and that it had been coming for a while.
“We had a private members motion last March. Many of the elements in that … the four movement rule, age restriction for 30 months, the price index, the residency rule … all of that was contained in that and nothing happened until the other night.
“It’s an awful pity the Government didn’t move faster, but also the industry itself, because after all without the farmer and primary producer, they’re going nowhere. We need to protect the primary producer who feels very marginalised at the moment,” he said.
He added that farmers need alternative income streams to be developed.
Change of Government
Martin also told the Irish Farmers Journal that he wants a complete change of Government after the next general election.
“We want to work with other parties, smaller parties, because we know from the local election trends that other parties will gain seats.
There’s no connection between that which gets announced and that which happens on the ground
“We do think the people want a complete change of Government. That’s what we’re picking up around. And we also want to deliver change, because the current Government makes a lot of announcements but doesn’t follow through on them; there’s no delivery.
“There’s no connection between that which gets announced and that which happens on the ground,” he said.
Mercosur
On Mercosur, he said “given the climate change negativity of the south American beef industry, I don’t understand how we can be proposing to import beef from south America while there’s a glut in the European market”.
Read more
Creed calls for protesters whose ‘voices were heard’ to end pickets
€120m cattle backlog hits farmers
Protests causing ‘major hardship’ for members - Hereford Prime
A second €100m Brexit beef fund is needed for beef farmers, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“Given that the original market disturbance fund of €100m dealt with the reference period September to May, for a significant reduction in price, what’s happened since May has significantly been worse.
“We are looking at something of a similar order,” he said.
The party introduced a private members motion in the Dáil on Wednesday, calling for another Brexit compensation scheme for farmers.
“Obviously the Government has to engage with the European Commission on that but it seems to me that the logical is inescapable, if it was deemed necessary for the September to May period, it surely follows that it should be necessary for the May to now period,” he said.
Without the farmer and primary producer, they’re going nowhere
Martin said that he thinks the Government was “far too slow” in reacting to the beef crisis and that it had been coming for a while.
“We had a private members motion last March. Many of the elements in that … the four movement rule, age restriction for 30 months, the price index, the residency rule … all of that was contained in that and nothing happened until the other night.
“It’s an awful pity the Government didn’t move faster, but also the industry itself, because after all without the farmer and primary producer, they’re going nowhere. We need to protect the primary producer who feels very marginalised at the moment,” he said.
He added that farmers need alternative income streams to be developed.
Change of Government
Martin also told the Irish Farmers Journal that he wants a complete change of Government after the next general election.
“We want to work with other parties, smaller parties, because we know from the local election trends that other parties will gain seats.
There’s no connection between that which gets announced and that which happens on the ground
“We do think the people want a complete change of Government. That’s what we’re picking up around. And we also want to deliver change, because the current Government makes a lot of announcements but doesn’t follow through on them; there’s no delivery.
“There’s no connection between that which gets announced and that which happens on the ground,” he said.
Mercosur
On Mercosur, he said “given the climate change negativity of the south American beef industry, I don’t understand how we can be proposing to import beef from south America while there’s a glut in the European market”.
Read more
Creed calls for protesters whose ‘voices were heard’ to end pickets
€120m cattle backlog hits farmers
Protests causing ‘major hardship’ for members - Hereford Prime
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: