Farmers still fear Brexit wipe-out

WHILE a peace deal brokered by a local TD allowed a Chinese delegation to inspect a West of Ireland meat plant this week, the leader of the country’s largest farming organisation has again warned that Brexit remains ‘the elephant in the room’ – with farmers facing a potential wipe-out of their biggest market.

IFA President, Joe Healy, told the Connacht Tribune that while there were some hopeful signs this week from London that a no-deal Brexit might be staved off at the end of October, he said that ‘all minds needed to be focused’ on the potential impact of such a scenario on farming in the West.

“We are in a situation where we export 90% of the beef that we produce and 52% of those exports end up in the UK – that equates to 298,000 tonnes per annum. We have to ensure that this market is protected – otherwise it could have disastrous consequences for farming in the West of Ireland,” said Joe Healy.

Earlier this week, there were some hopeful signs that the stand-off between the meat plants and protesting farmers might have a chance of easing when an agreement was brokered on Tuesday to allow a Chinese delegation to ‘inspect’ the Kepak plant in Athleague, close to the Roscommon/Galway border.

Referred by some locals as ‘The Fitzmaurice Accord’, the agreement was reached after all-day negotiations between Kepak and farmer representatives under the chairmanship of Independent Roscommon-Galway TD, Michael Fitzmaurice.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.