The €12/ewe payment under the new Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) has been acknowledged as being too small.
Kevin Comiskey, sheep chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) told Agriland that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue acknowledged this point at an event in Carrigallen Co. Leitrim recently.
Comiskey was speaking at the IFA sheep protest in Co. Roscommon on Monday, February 13, which was held to highlight the ‘income crisis’ on sheep farms with ‘Save our Sheep Sector’ banners being carried through Roscommon town.
Speaking to Agriland at the protest, Comiskey said: “I highlighted back in March 2022, when I said it to the Minister for Agriculture that this [crisis] was coming down the road.
“But yet it wasn’t acted upon. I said that we [sheep farmers] are starting to take in water but now we are starting to sink.
“The minister did recognise this at the Cornmill Theatre in Carrigallen recently that the payment of €12/ewe for the SIS was too small.
“He said it was too small but that he and his department would build on it into the future,” Comiskey added.
“I said it to him then and I’ll say it again now – if action isn’t taken now there will be no future for sheep farmers.
“There is a lot of anger and frustration amongst farmers and rightly so. We have to keep fighting and getting the message out there that we need support and we need it now.”
The IFA has said that the sheep sector must be supported with a €30/ewe payment, claiming that a €12/ewe payment is an “insult to farm families” across the country.
“The responsibility of keeping the future alive doesn’t just rest with the government, it also rests with Bord Bia and the factories too, by returning a fair price to sheep farmers for the quality product they produce,” Comiskey continued.
