Losing a Dáil vote is becoming unfortunately commonplace for the minority Government. The 87-49 hammering received when all shades of opposition joined forces in favour of creating a €4.5m crisis fund for tillage farmers last week was the fourth reversal in the nine months since Fine Gael stepped back into office, with support from independents and, externally, Fianna Fáil.

It is still, however, a blow, and Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed cannot casually dismiss the will of the Dáil. The probability is that a fund will be put in place, the questions farmers want answered are how and when they will get support.

The minister had already indicated at the IFA AGM that he would bring the issue to the tillage forum. At first sight it seems a strange fit, as the forum contains a wide range of stakeholders, from chemical and fertiliser suppliers to distillers and brewers. It’s more about what it doesn’t contain – opposition politicians. If the minister expends the political capital to seek the resources to put a scheme in place, he will not want to share the credit with Charlie McConalogue and Fianna Fáil. Hence the forum.

Resources

The resources are more than just the estimated €4.5m of funds – the administrative burden on the Department would be significant. There is a sense that it’s Agriculture House rather than Leinster House that needs convincing this can be done in an orderly manner.

Time is of the essence. Tillage farmers and their creditors need a clear signal this side of the spring work that some support is on the way. €4.5m will not erase the losses or debts incurred last harvest, but it might give farmers the room to go back again this year to make good their losses. The alternative is losing tillage farmers in the parts of the country where they are most strategically important.

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Disaster tillage fund seems inevitable