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As the no-deal Brexit agriculture fund has been welcomed by Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture Charlie McConalogue, he expressed disappointment at the lack of measures to address the farm income crisis.
“While the €110m fund is a welcome step, there was no fund to cover beef price loses suffered since May,” he said.
He has called on Minister Michael Creed to clarify how much of €110m fund will be ring-fenced for farmers.
“He must also outline the exact mix of grant aid, equity or loans contained in the fund for recipients.”
Conditions
added that restrictive conditions and limits must be avoided in any new support funds and said that the budget has only modest measures to address the farm income crisis.
No payments have been issued to over 19,000 beef farmers despite a €20m allocation made to the BEEP scheme in last year’s budget
Although an additional €20m has been allocated to the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) in 2020, McConalogue said farmers will be very sceptical.
“A PQ reply from Minister Creed confirms that no payments have been issued to over 19,000 beef farmers despite a €20m allocation made to the BEEP scheme in last year’s budget. Beef farmers are at their wits end with prices on the floor over the past 12 months.”
McConalogue called for a rapid delivery of funds and an assurance that that the €22m of unused funds under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) scheme stays with farmers.
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