IFA president Joe Healy called for strong government action to support the sheep sector after highlighting the income difficulties on farms across the country.

Together with IFA sheep chair Sean Dennehy, he spoke to farmers at the weekly sheep sale at Tuam Mart, Co Galway.

Increased payments

The IFA is seeking direct payments of €30 per ewe for sheep farmers under CAP. In 2017, a sheep welfare scheme worth €10 per ewe was secured. The IFA is calling on Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to amend the scheme to increase the payment to €15 per ewe for 2020. “Coupled payments as well as targeted eco schemes must be considered in Pillar I,” Healy said.

“The sheep sector is going through a very difficult period. Compared to 2018, this season’s lamb prices are down 43c/kg or €9 per lamb, mainly due to the impact of Brexit in the UK.”

Quality assurance bonus

A set of actions on prices and policy required to restore farm income and farmer confidence were outlined. These included protecting the CAP budget and avoiding a “second Mercosur deal” with New Zealand and Australia.

Dennehy said the IFA is demanding that the factories introduce a strong quality assurance bonus of 30c/kg on lamb as the current general 10-15c/kg quality assurance top-up is “totally inadequate”.

During 2018, exports accounted for almost 70% of Irish sheepmeat production, reaching a total of 56,000t, valued at approximately €315m. The UK and France remain key markets for Irish sheepmeat, accounting for 58% of volumes in 2018.

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