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Rural Ireland could be hit the hardest by the COVID-19 crash, as the ESRI warns the unemployment rate could hit 11% by the end of the year.
The last time unemployment levels were that high, in 2015, farmers earned almost €1bn less from PAYE or off-farm work, according to Revenue.
Some 105,000 or 70% of farmers rely on off-farm work to make up some or nearly all of their income, with farmers in western and midland counties particularly reliant on this.
Farmers in Donegal, Galway and Roscommon have an average gross salary of €44,221 but only €14,101 is derived solely from farm income. The remaining €30,120 is made up of off-farm and spousal income.
The situation is similar for other counties including Clare, Mayo, Sligo, Longford and Leitrim, and already there are reports of part-time farmers being laid off from companies such as Quinn Industrial Holdings.
As beef and sheep prices drop and more farmers potentially lose off-farm employment, it will have a ripple effect on rural shops, marts and businesses
Many other farmers are involved in the tourist or service industries.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and senior banking figures have warned about how off-farm income losses will exacerbate the financial impact of the coronavirus.
Minister Creed said he expects the economic impact on the farming and rural community to be “severe”.
Unemployment payment
Over 280,000 people have already applied to the Department of Social Protection for the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment worth €350/week.
As it stands, this payment is only in place for 12 weeks.
As beef and sheep prices drop and more farmers potentially lose off-farm employment, it will have a ripple effect on rural shops, marts and businesses. This is likely to hit hardest in suckler and sheep strongholds in the border and western regions, where more farmers work off-farm.
UCD research by Dr Michael Wallace in 2019 showed that overall the national suckler herd was worth €2.9bn to the Irish economy, with little to no back up plans for how to support rural areas if that industry disappeared.
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