The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) will stage two protests at marts that Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue is due to attend tomorrow (Thursday, October 21).
A message sent out to IFA members this evening says that the protests are taking place in response to the announcement of the funding for the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan (CSP), which occurred earlier today.
The protests will take place at Tullow Mart and Kilkenny Mart, where the minister is due to appear as part of his tour of marts in every county to meet local farmer representatives and to discuss the CSP.
IFA members are set to gather at Tullow Mart at 3:00p.m and at Kilkenny Mart 6:00p.m.
Minister McConalogue is due at these locations at 4:00p.m and 7:00p.m respectively.
The message says: “We are asking all farmers to attend to send a strong message to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that farming won’t be sacrificed to keep the Green Party in office.”
Responding to the funding allocation earlier today, IFA president Tim Cullinan claimed that the message from the government’s announcement this morning is that it’s “not interested in supporting active farming”.
“A cohort of our most productive farmers are going to be devastated by the CAP decisions at EU level. The minister’s own decisions today will do nothing to help these farmers.
“The total emphasis is on rewarding farmers for reducing production. The Greens are clearly running the show, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael being led by the nose,” the IFA president asserted.
He also said: “The minister’s plan to allocate the maximum 25% of every farmer’s basic payment to so-called ‘eco-schemes’ is bizarre, as the minister himself fought to secure flexibility on this at EU level.”
Cullinan also claimed: “For the government to say they have increased co-funding for the CAP by 50% is disingenuous as this includes the government’s promised carbon tax allocation.”