Pressure mounts on Coveney for a crisis package

BY FRANCIS FARRAGHER

MORE pressure is mounting this week from his own party and the IFA for Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney, to take a more ‘hands on’ approach to the fodder and financial crisis that has hit farming in the West over recent months.

Connacht IFA Vice-President, Padraic Divilly, said that there was a lot of disappointment in the region at the failure of the Minister to grasp the seriousness and scale of the crisis facing farmers in the region.

In a statement issued this week, Junior Education Minister Ciaran Cannon, said that he had asked Minister Coveney to extend the fodder subsidy for a number of weeks into the Summer, given that newly harvested fodder would shortly be available from the UK and France.

“The suggestion has come from the Executive of Galway IFA who have pointed out that newly harvested fodder will shortly be available in the UK and France and should be bought now to avert a potential crisis.

“I have approached Minister Coveney directly to put this suggestion to him. Specifically they [IFA] asked if the subsidy could be used to buy new fodder which will shortly be available in France and the UK, so that it can be stockpiled in advance of the expected crisis next Winter.

“I believe that this suggestion merits serious consideration. Fodder supplies in Galway are completely depleted and farmers are facing into a Winter with no surplus and little hope of being able to harvest enough fodder for what may be another very harsh Winter,” said Minister Cannon.

Meanwhile Padraic Divilly said this week that the IFA would be spearheading a major campaign aimed at making available low interest loans to farmers under severe financial pressure at the moments with large sums of money owing to merchants and co-ops.

“First and foremost we want the banks and financial institutions to make those loans available up to around the €200 million mark, and we want Minister Coveney to secure an interest subsidy from the Government, leaving farmers with a maximum interest rate of no more than 1.5%.”

He said that there were serious fears for the future of the suckler cow sector if such a package wasn’t put in place.

“It is very worrying to see the amount of cows being sold off in the factories over recent weeks – the maintenance and replenishment of our suckler herd is an absolutely basic building block for the Irish beef industry.

“It is something of an understatement to say that we are very disappointed at the handling of this crisis by Minister Coveney – the whole seriousness and gravity of the situation just never seemed to sink in with him,” said Padraic Divilly.

He said that over recent years, suckler cow numbers in Ireland had fallen from a high of 1.2 million to just over the 900,000 mark at present, a trend that needed to be arrested to guarantee the future of the Irish beef industry.