There was strong support for suckler cow supports to be introduced at a Fianna Fáil meeting in Carrick-on-Shannon last night.

About 60 people attended the meeting organised by the new Fianna Fáil candidate for Roscommon/South Leitrim, Shane Ellis. No stranger to politics, Shane is a son of former TD John Ellis and is a suckler farmer currently farming in Leitrim.

Ellis spoke about important role that suckler farming plays in the west of Ireland and that if sucklers were taken out of these areas they “would die a death”.

Ellis proposed a €200/cow support payment to be paid on the first 20 cows in suckler herds to be implemented as part of the next budget.

Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture Charlie McConalogue also addressed the meeting and explained the importance of the CAP budget to drystock farmers.

“Nationally, the average income for suckler farmers is €13,000; last spring, most farmers spent huge sums of money buying fodder for cattle and this figure will suffer a significant drop for 2018. We need a €200 support payment over what farmers are already receiving.”

A number of representatives from breed societies also spoke, including Peadar Glennon from the Irish Simmental Cattle Society, who criticised the BDGP programme and also questioned the way figures are calculated by ICBF.

“I have real doubts about whether these figures are working,” said Glennon.

The president of the Irish Charolais Cattle Society also criticised the way Irish beef is being marketed without sufficient promotion of suckler-bred beef.

“Suckler farmers in this country are the ones that built up the reputation that Irish beef has all over the world and we are not getting paid for it.”