Minister’s Form of Leadership Won’t Wash with Farmers

IFA Animal Health Chair TJ Maher said that telling farmers that he will make decisions without their agreement is not a leadership style that will wash with farmers.

“The Minister and his Department officials should bear in mind without farmers co-operation and funding, they do not have the capacity or resources to implement a TB programme,” he said. 

TJ Maher said robust discussions on the direction the TB programme took place at the so-called summit last week. IFA are prepared to agree a practical and effective TB programme in this format, but if the Minister prefers to have a confrontational approach, then he will get one.

“Farmers have the heaviest burden at €150m each year and are the only people who carry the burden of the disease on a daily basis in the management of our farms. We will be the only people that will suffer the consequences of the poorly-thought out, crude and unnecessary proposals put forward by the Minister and his officials last week.”

TJ Maher said the Minister talks about providing leadership and in the same breath threatens to impose measures that will decimate the incomes and livelihood of thousands of farmers.  This is not leadership, this is authoritarianism.

“If the Minister wants a row with farmers on TB, then he will get one. IFA cannot allow poorly-thought out policies be imposed on farmers that will decimate family incomes and decades of breeding.”

The IFA Chair said there is an urgent need to make significant changes to the TB programme to get this disease back under control. IFA has put forward extensive proposals that address all sources of the disease, wildlife, cattle to cattle and latent infection utilising the tools available and taking on board the lived experience of effectiveness of measures in the past.

He said the focus of the Minister and his officials on blacklisting farmers through Risk Based Trading ignores the most fundamental objective, stopping the spread of TB.

The Department’s proposal does not stop TB spread. It merely compounds the losses for farmers who through no fault of their own have had a TB outbreak and are just returning to some sort of normality on their farm.