Matt Carthy hits his stride talking about what he sees as the double standards of some of the actions being demanded of Irish farming to counteract climate change.

“I was in the European Parliament on days when a climate action debate was followed by a trade debate.

“On one hand, you would have MEPs and representatives of the Commission pointing the finger at sectors such as Irish agriculture and in the afternoon endorsing the Mercosur trade deal,” says the Sinn Féin agriculture spokesman.

“It’s not fair to simply say Ireland needs to reduce the amount of food it produces, if the alternative is less sustainable food production.

“You can’t compare food production to coal or to other types of high-emissions manufacturing, because there are alternatives to them, but there’s no alternative to food yet,” he says.

What we eat

“We can change the type of foods that we eat, and produce, but at the end of the day, we’re still going to need food.”

It’s strong stuff, resonant of a signal speech he recently made in the Dáil, which carried the refrain: “That’s not climate action, that’s hypocrisy.”

With both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in Government, Sinn Féin is by far the largest party in opposition. Carthy, newly elected as a TD, found himself on the negotiating team as Government formation talks began, but the Monaghan man has been a rising star within Sinn Féin since becoming a public representative in the county when elected to Carrickmacross Town Council aged just 21.

Refocus needed

Now 43, and having sat as an MEP on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, he feels Irish farming needs to refocus.

“The big change needs to be moving from the amount of production to the type of production and the sustainability of farms. Most farmers I know are producing more than their fathers produced, but are making less money. Most of them, their farm operation (less direct payments) is operating at a loss,” he says.

“That’s absolutely unsustainable, and it’s unfair of all of us who aren’t farmers to expect people to do that, and at the same time say ‘we’re going to put more burdens on you and expect you to do more for the benefit of society, but become less profitable as you go on’.”

Policy

“For the last couple of decades, Government policy has been set around increasing the amount of food being produced, with little thought put into the position of the primary producer or the communities that depend on them.

“I’m a townie, but I know the value of the family farm network to the town that I come from.

“You take it away, you take away the nearest thing most towns and villages have to an industry.

“They’re the one sector that when it prospers, everyone prospers, because the money isn’t shipped off to a tax haven, it’s not sent off to shareholders, it goes back to the local hardware shop, to the local pub and community group.”

Convergence and CAP

Carthy supports full convergence of direct payments. Will this not take money from many low-income drystock farmers?

“Most drystock farmers are earning below the average in Pillar I payments. That’s the fundamental failure.

“I was screaming for about three years that the Multiannual Financial Framework discussions were leading to a catastrophe for Irish farming.

“By 2027, Ireland’s going to be contributing €1bn extra a year to the EU budget, yet we’re going to be getting about somewhere between €80m and €100m less in the CAP.

“Leo Varadkar became the first EU leader to say that his country was willing to contribute more to the European budget without any red lines.

“His red line should have been the same proportion towards CAP - 37% of the EU budget should have been retained. Instead, it’s about 30% now. On every parameter, the Irish Government failed in terms of the negotiations.”

“I have a fundamental problem with saying to a young farmer, farming their family land, doing their best, that they are receiving less payment per hectare than their neighbour based on the production of that farm 20 years ago. I don’t believe that is either fair or equitable.”

Sucklers and PGI

“The sector that needs the most help right now is the suckler sector, and I would have argued that’s the sector that needed a protected geographical indication (PGI) status.

“It’s so frustrating when you’re talking to the minister or Bord Bia and they’ll turn around and say well, the problem is nobody internationally knows what Irish suckler beef is. You have to ask, whose job is it to promote Irish food?

“Those very same people, and they haven’t been doing it.”

Organic

“If we’re asking people to go organic, we have to put a commitment into marketing and promoting that product, in order to ensure a premium price.”

Co-funding and new REPS

When asked if he is committed to full 57% co-funding for Pillar II of CAP, Carthy says: “Yes. Obviously, I’ll have to engage in my own negotiations in terms of our own alternative budget, because we are very clear that we don’t say something in opposition that we won’t deliver in Government.

“I don’t think Pearse Doherty will be surprised to hear me say it, I will be advocating that in terms of Sinn Féin’s proposals we will be maximising the level of co-finance.

“This isn’t just about the agricultural schemes. Rural communities that desperately need investment also benefit from LEADER and other elements of the rural development programme.

“I’m opposed to the idea of carbon taxes, because I don’t believe they actually bring any benefit in environmental terms at all, but the Government has committed to €1.5bn of carbon tax funds going into a REPS-type scheme.

“That needs to be additional funding, if they’re serious about that. That needs to be outside of Pillar II co-funding.”

He finishes with a direct challenge to Irish farming families.

“To all of those wondering whether it will be worth considering Sinn Féin, let me just say this: you’ve had Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for a long time. Everyone who looks at Irish agriculture knows that change is required. I can say as agriculture spokesperson I’m engaged in a dialogue, I want to hear people’s views.

“Now’s the time to give change a chance, and that’s as true for farmers as it is for anyone else.”