IFA President Francie Gorman said cuts to vital schemes for suckler, sheep and calf rearing farmers is unacceptable and must be resolved by Minister Martin Heydon.
“Suckler, beef and sheep are our most vulnerable farm sectors in the country and rely on the income from these schemes for their viability, and payment in full must be made across the National Beef Welfare Scheme, National Sheep Welfare Scheme and the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme,” Francie Gorman said.
“Farmer confidence in the Department to deliver on vital supports has been shattered by these actions.”
“Farmers entered these schemes in good faith and incurred the costs of participation in the expectation the Minister would honour his commitment to pay farmers in full for these actions,” he added.
The IFA President said linear cuts to nationally funded schemes is not something Ministers have done very often in the past and in particular for such important schemes.
“We met the Minister on this issue, and I made it very clear to him that linear cuts to these vital schemes is unacceptable,” Francie Gorman said.
“We estimate an extra allocation of €8m would mean he could meet the commitments of the three schemes.”
“It is positive that the number of applicants to the schemes is up, this should not be used to cut payments, the Minister has funding available that can used to supplement these schemes,” he said.
Francie Gorman added the willingness of the Minister and his Government colleagues to resolve this will be a clear indication of how supportive they really are of suckler, beef and sheep farmers.
“The commitment to farmers in the programme for government now needs to be backed up by paying farmers in full who participated in these schemes,” he concluded.
