John Keane, Macra president
“If we look at Pillar I payments, the direct supports. The minister has talked about 3% being delivered for young farmers. Let’s be very clear on what that 3% is, minister. The 3% is the very minimum that could be delivered. The Commission promised 3% in the discussions over the summer and our Government have chosen not to increase that for direct payments for young farmers.”
Keane then presented the minister with a €1 coin. He said it was “a gift from the young farmers within Macra to you, to show that the young farmers are willing to give more to you than you’re going to give them in the €1bn that you found this week”.
Dermot Kelleher, ICSA president
“All is not lost. You can still do a coupled payment of €120/suckler cow and €16/ewe on top of the present scheme and it would make suckler farmers and sheep farmers survive until the next CAP. What a lot of people don’t seem to realise is that there’s a big part of this country that’s not fit for dairying, as in broken land and fragmented farms. We have to look after our cows, we are suckler farmers. One time it was to hell or to Connacht, now it seems to be go dairying or die.”
Pat McCormack, ICMSA president
“What we need from an eco scheme is that the commercial farmer can be part of it. As I read it at the minute, for the average farmer, there is only one part of the scheme that he could obtain and that’s to set 500 trees over a five-year period. That’s only one part of an eco scheme. Farmers in Tipperary have enough for doing looking after their livestock, without making sure that every one of those trees is successful to take, for fear of a cross-compliance inspection.”
Stephen Arthur,
IFA dairy chair
“In 2014, Simon Coveney asked dairy farmers to take advantage of the end of quotas and lead Ireland out of economic recovery. We answered that call, and invested €1.5bn of our own money in stock, sheds, parlours, paddocks and roadways, and now we’re the bad guys.”
Your Government banned Irish peat and now we’re importing it. It will soon be the same for food – Jean Fegan, farmer.
Francie Gorman, South Leinster
IFA chair
“You want to put everyone on an average per-hectare payment. You can’t run a suckler farm on an average per-hectare direct payment.”
“Why are we even here tonight. This is not consultation. You should be negotiating with our elected farmer representatives. This is a sham, tokenism.”
Imelda Walsh, North Tipperary IFA chair
“Commodity prices are going well at the moment, but it’s only two years since beef farmers were at the gates of factories. What happens if the market slumps again? There’s nothing for beef finishers in the announcements this week, they have been ignored completely.”
John Keane, Macra president
“If we look at Pillar I payments, the direct supports. The minister has talked about 3% being delivered for young farmers. Let’s be very clear on what that 3% is, minister. The 3% is the very minimum that could be delivered. The Commission promised 3% in the discussions over the summer and our Government have chosen not to increase that for direct payments for young farmers.”
Keane then presented the minister with a €1 coin. He said it was “a gift from the young farmers within Macra to you, to show that the young farmers are willing to give more to you than you’re going to give them in the €1bn that you found this week”.
Dermot Kelleher, ICSA president
“All is not lost. You can still do a coupled payment of €120/suckler cow and €16/ewe on top of the present scheme and it would make suckler farmers and sheep farmers survive until the next CAP. What a lot of people don’t seem to realise is that there’s a big part of this country that’s not fit for dairying, as in broken land and fragmented farms. We have to look after our cows, we are suckler farmers. One time it was to hell or to Connacht, now it seems to be go dairying or die.”
Pat McCormack, ICMSA president
“What we need from an eco scheme is that the commercial farmer can be part of it. As I read it at the minute, for the average farmer, there is only one part of the scheme that he could obtain and that’s to set 500 trees over a five-year period. That’s only one part of an eco scheme. Farmers in Tipperary have enough for doing looking after their livestock, without making sure that every one of those trees is successful to take, for fear of a cross-compliance inspection.”
Stephen Arthur,
IFA dairy chair
“In 2014, Simon Coveney asked dairy farmers to take advantage of the end of quotas and lead Ireland out of economic recovery. We answered that call, and invested €1.5bn of our own money in stock, sheds, parlours, paddocks and roadways, and now we’re the bad guys.”
Your Government banned Irish peat and now we’re importing it. It will soon be the same for food – Jean Fegan, farmer.
Francie Gorman, South Leinster
IFA chair
“You want to put everyone on an average per-hectare payment. You can’t run a suckler farm on an average per-hectare direct payment.”
“Why are we even here tonight. This is not consultation. You should be negotiating with our elected farmer representatives. This is a sham, tokenism.”
Imelda Walsh, North Tipperary IFA chair
“Commodity prices are going well at the moment, but it’s only two years since beef farmers were at the gates of factories. What happens if the market slumps again? There’s nothing for beef finishers in the announcements this week, they have been ignored completely.”
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