A senator has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to review the compensation being offered to fur farmers.
There are currently three mink farming enterprises operating in counties Donegal; Laois; and Kerry. All will be forced to close once the Animal Health and Welfare (Amendment) Bill 2021, which will ban fur farming, is passed into law this year.
Independent senator Victor Boyhan, who is a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, believes that the scheme to compensate these farmers must be reconsidered.
“It is fundamentally wrong when the government issues a decree to close down any legitimate, legal business that is operating within the law and complying with the requirements of commercial life, paying income tax and appropriate fees,” the senator stated.
“Everyone accepts that the future for mink farming is over, the only issue in dispute is the need for fur farmers to be adequately compensated for lost earnings after the practice is banned as a result of the government’s legislation, which I support.”
The minister for agriculture recently told the Seanad that there has been ongoing engagement with the fur farmers.
The government also commissioned Grant Thornton Ireland to complete an independent assessment of the procedures around closing the businesses down and compensation for the farmers affected.
“There is a clear recognition that the State has decided to close down this industry and as a result of that, is impacting on three farms and the livelihoods of those farmers, as well as their employees,” Minister McConalogue stated.
“The objective has always been to be fair and reasonable in recognition of the impact of what we are doing.”
“We also must be prudent and reasonable in how we spend public money but it has to be fair to the farmers as well,” he added.
It was previously estimated that the total compensation paid to the three farms will range from €4 million to €8 million.
It is understood that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will examine asset value or earnings, redundancy payments and disposal costs for breeding stock as part of the compensation package.
Senator Boyhan called for a negotiated settlement with the mink farmers in advance of the bill to close the fur farms coming before both houses of the Oireachtas.