The Food Vision Beef and Sheep Group must meet urgently to discuss the crisis in the sheep sector, the Irish Cattle and Sheep farmers’ Association (ICSA) has said.

Speaking today (January 27), the association’s sheep chair Sean McNamara said he is “appalled by the lack of urgency at government level” to address the challenges that the sector is facing.

McNamara slammed what he called a lack of engagement between the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and the sector, labelling it as “disgraceful”.

He called on Minister McConalogue to take responsibility and arrange meetings of the group without delay.

“Processors, retailers an department officials all need to get around the table with sheep farmer representatives and plot a way forward.

“The minister has a responsibility to make this happen, he needs to get the sheep vision group going and find a way of keeping sheep farming valuable,” McNamara said.

Weak lamb prices and low margins have hit the sheep sector hard, with a recent report from Teagasc on sheep farm incomes stating that net margins in 2022 dropped by 81% to €7/ewe, a figure that includes the sheep welfare scheme payment.

This is down from €39/ewe the previous year.

“As a sector we are not getting enough for our product, and we are not getting enough supports.

“The clock is now ticking for sheep farmers because they cannot see a way to keep producing if all they are doing is losing money hand over fist,” said McNamara.

There have been numerous calls for support for sheep farmers as soaring input costs and inflation continuously erode any progress made in lamb prices offered by processors.

“We were low-income in 2021 but we are no income now and we cannot survive as a sector without serious intervention,” stated McNamara.

Following intense questioning at the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) AGM this week, the agriculture minister said that his department is supporting sheep farmers through the Sheep Improvement Scheme under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Under this scheme, sheep farmers can draw down a payment of €12/breeding ewe for completing a number of flock welfare measures.

However, after IFA representatives and farmers present insisted that this payment is insufficient, Minister McConalogue stated that he would explore the possibility of providing extra support to sheep farmers via funding from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).