IFA

IFA president Joe Healy said that Ireland faces “agricultural Armageddon” and that the agricultural sector did not receive enough funding in Budget 2020.

“While the €110m committed to the Department of Agriculture for next year is a step forward, much more will be needed now as farmers are already suffering huge losses due to Brexit uncertainty.

“Beef farmers have incurred huge losses since 12 May when the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) was introduced and these have to be covered,” he said.

“Now that the Irish Government has set out its plans, we need the European Commission to put its Brexit funding cards on the table.”

ICMSA

“Profound disappointment to farmers” were the words used by Pat McCormack, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president, to describe Tuesday’s budget.

“The ICMSA won’t be alone in finding it very concerning that there was not a single specific reference to our hugely valuable dairy exports and the potential impact in the event of a no-deal Brexit,” said McCormack.

He does not think that the Government has shown any degree of understanding about the nature of the threat that Irish farming and food production is facing, saying “farmers will be hugely disappointed by Budget 2020”.

Macra na Feirme

Macra na Feirme has described Budget 2020 as “largely uninspiring”. It also questions whether it is enough to mitigate the potential damage to Ireland’s young farmers and rural youth.

The organisation has said that the beef industry has been hit by a perfect storm of European oversupply and Brexit driving prices unsustainably low.

The lack of detail for areas of rural transport, the development of the rural broadband network and climate change for rural areas has presented some concerns for the organisation.

“As they say, the devil is in the detail and we really need to see how the Government intends to roll out funding,” said Duffy.

ICSA

The budget provides very little detail on how a no-deal Brexit will be mitigated, according to the Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) president Edmond Phelan.

“We still are not clear as to what will be done to deal with the shortfall in applications for the BEAM programme,” he added.

He said that the ICSA believes that the rate per qualifying animal should be adjusted upwards, so that the full Exchequer contribution of €50m, along with matching EU funding, can be utilised.

“The ICSA believes that sheep farmers are also going to need a package along the lines of the BEAM scheme for beef farmers,” he said.

INHFA

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has expressed disappointment with the budget.

INHFA resident Colm O’Donnell said that it fails to deliver for the smaller suckler farmer and the hill sheep sector.

He said there was an opportunity to use some of the unspent funds in the Sheep Welfare Scheme and make a top-up payment.

“This opportunity has once again been missed as too was our proposal to pay for the cost of EID tagging from these unspent funds,” he said.