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The Animal Collector’s Association (ACA) has accused the Department of Agriculture of trying to force knackeries to accept a revised Fallen Animal Scheme.
A spokesperson for the ACA said the Department had withheld monies due to the knackeries for animals collected since mid-December.
“They have threatened these monies will not be paid unless knackeries accept the new scheme. The Department is holding knackery operators, who are on their knees, to ransom by holding monies due to try and force struggling operators into acceptance of this scheme,” the spokesperson said.
Knackeries said the scheme, which caps farmer collection fees (see Table 1), would push them into further financial difficulties and fail to protect them, or farmers.
The Fallen Animal Scheme, financed by the Department, was first scaled back in 2009 when subsidies were removed from all animals under 48 months. Knackery operators say they lost 80% of their funding as a result.
Knackeries also highlighted a lack of competition in the rendering sector, saying costs had doubled since the imposition of a travel restriction of 125km on category one waste.
The flare-up in dispute between the Department and the ACA in autumn 2019 coincided with a collapse in hide prices, an important revenue stream for knackeries. Prices for good-quality hides fell from highs of €68/hide in 2016 to as low as €17/hide in August and have shown little recovery since.
The Department said it was confident the amended scheme would support knackeries and ensure a continued fallen animal collection service for farmers.
However, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) and the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) have called for the scheme to be revisited, saying it will increase farmers costs.
IFA animal health chair Pat Farrell said the scheme failed to reduce the cost for farmers and its voluntary nature did not provide a guaranteed collection service. He said the interests of the three rendering plants and knackeries had been protected at the expense of farmers.
The fee limits set by the Department are based on the average of an IFA survey of knackery charges carried out in 2019.
ICMSA deputy president Lorcan McCabe said: “Yet again, a dispute arises and the Department’s solution is to pass the hit along to farmers – an old tactic which is no longer acceptable.”
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