Minister Heydon Must Honour Commitment to Pay €75/cow in Beef Welfare Scheme

IFA Livestock Chair Declan Hanrahan said the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon must find the €3.7m funding to pay all suckler farmers in the Beef Welfare Scheme who completed all of the actions their full €75/cow.

Declan Hanrahan said he met with Minister Heydon specifically on this issue and has rejected outright the Minister’s plans to cut payments to suckler farmers in the scheme by up to €8/cow.

“The strong uptake of the scheme is very positive for the sector and should not now be used to penalise suckler farmers who invested in the measures on their farms,” he said.

Declan Hanrahan said in the past Ministers for Agriculture have stood firm in support of farmers where schemes were oversubscribed and found the additional funding. This move by Minister Heydon and his Government colleagues sends a very bad message to suckler farmers whose livelihoods very much depend on direct supports to the sector.

He said the scheme is based on income foregone, cost incurred, which means suckler farmers have incurred the costs in good faith in the expectation the Minister would honour his commitment to pay all eligible farmers the €75/cow they are entitled to.

Declan Hanrahan said we have plenty of soundbites from the Minister and his Government colleagues of how important the sector is. They must now follow these words with actions by securing the €3.7m funding to pay farmers the full €75/cow which represents the costs of the scheme.