A group of farmers and contractors have staged a protest outside a hotel in Co. Westmeath tonight (Thursday, February 1) where the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine was taking part in an event.
Minister Charlie McConalogue addressed the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) annual general meeting (AGM) and conference in Athlone tonight.
The group of farmers and contractors said they were not representative of any farmer organisation, were not protesting as a show of solidarity with European farmers and had come together tonight to voice their “frustrations”.
At one stage one member of the protesters entered the conference room where the ICSA AGM was being held and shouted at the minister.
One beef farmer from County Clare told Agriland that he had taken part in the protest to “get a serious message on behalf of farmers across to the Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue”.
“Farmers are sick and tired of the government attacking our way of life, destroying a very vital indigenous industry and we’re not going to take any more of it.
“We’ve had enough of the government’s green policies and attack on agriculture and food production,” he said.
But Minister McConalogue also told Agriland tonight that he sees it as his job to support farmers in anyway he can.
“Farming is not an easy profession.
“I am supporting farmers through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), through the various schemes that we have run through the last while and I will continue to do that,” the minister said.
The minister also said it was a “source of disappointment” that not all of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payments to farmers had been paid out by the end of last year.
“The team are working really hard on this, it is the main priority in the department to work to get the payments cleared as quickly possible.
“It has been challenging from a systems point of view – we’re doing all we can to expedite it,” he added.
Earlier the new president of the ICSA, Sean McNamara, told the minister that it was “most frustrating” that 28,000 farmers who are ACRES participants “hadn’t received payments” and that this had sent “a troubling message to committed farmers”.
McNamara said it was not just “an administrative hiccup, it jeopardises trust”.