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Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Pat McCormack has criticised the EU Farm Council over its lack of aid to the sector, saying the council needs to “straighten up, get serious and provide the support”.
The council is due to meet tomorrow and McCormack said it was time it grasped the full scale of the impact farming is facing.
“Farmers have suffered serious losses due to COVID-19 and there is a clear responsibility on the EU Farm Council to address these losses in a fair and reasonable way,” McCormack said.
“Tomorrow’s Farm Council will tell it all. We’ll either know whether the EU understands and appreciates what it has or whether it’s going to listen to those who don’t seem to think that it’s important that the EU has the ability to feed itself.”
He said farmers would be reassured that the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed was confident he had the other 26 member states “on side”, but said this confidence needs to be translated into action.
Storage aid
Last month, the European Commission provided storage aid to various sectors.
Cormac Healy, of Meat Industry Ireland told the Irish Farmers Journal: “The level of aid announced goes nowhere near what is required to cover the costs associated with freezing, storage, financing and also the collapsed market value of the cuts.”
Overall, Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) welcomed the opening of private storage but said it fell far short of what was needed in terms of volume.
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