Former minister for agriculture, Michael Creed has told Agriland that the beef protests of 2019 were one of the big challenges he faced while in office.
The Fine Gael TD for the Cork North-West constituency confirmed at a private party meeting in Cork on Monday night (April 25) that he would be standing down at the end of the current Dáil term.
The 59-year-old from Macroom was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1989 and served as agriculture minister from 2016-2020.
Retirement
“Anybody who has served 38 years in any profession, retirement shouldn’t come as a great surprise and mine from politics shouldn’t therefore be of any great surprise either,” Creed told Agriland.
“You take time to reflect on where you’re at and I just felt myself that every organisation needs rejuvenation, it needs new blood, it needs reflection. In that reflection, I came to the conclusion myself that this was a good innings.
“I’m eternally grateful to the people of my constituency in Cork North-West for the trust that they placed in me, but it’s time to move on, and I’m looking forward to the next chapter, whatever that is,” the TD said.
“My commitment to Fine Gael is unquestioning and unstinting and always will be. It’s nothing whatever to do with Fine Gael, I’m as committed to Fine Gael today as I was at any stage of my career,” he added.
Fine Gael
An Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar, who was informed of Creed’s decision several days ago, has paid tribute to the former minister.
“We sat down and discussed it. He accepted my decision and thanked me for the work that I had done for the party both at a constituency level and nationally and it was a very pleasant conversation,” Creed continued.
“Leo was appreciative of my efforts, but understood my thinking as well.”
The announcement that Michael Creed is to bow out of national politics is the latest blow to the Fine Gael party following previous declarations from John Paul Phelan, Brendan Griffin and Joe McHugh that they would not be contesting the next general election.
However, Creed does not think his decision will put a Fine Gael seat at risk.
“The seat is the property of the electorate in Cork North-West and Fine Gael has always been returned in the constituency. I hope that continues to be the case,” he said.
“My firm commitment is to continue as I am until this Dáil ends and at that stage, the future is a blank chapter that has yet to be written. And I look forward to picking up the pen on that chapter in due course.”
Minister
Creed said that it was the pinnacle of his political career to be asked to serve in Cabinet as minister for agriculture.
“I dealt with droughts and fodder shortages and a whole host of challenges during my time,” he explained to Agriland.
“I like to think I did my best in terms of trying to bring solutions to the table, working with fantastic people in the industry, both inside and outside the farmgate,” he said.
In June 2016, just a few weeks after Creed’s appointment as minister, the UK voted to leave the European Union.
“That was a huge challenge and probably took up all of my time at an EU level in terms of creating an awareness about the challenge that it posed for us in terms of the UK market and building alliances across Europe in terms of the outcomes that we wanted.
“That was all consuming across everything that we did in the department,” Creed said.
Beef protests
In 2019, beef farmers undertook weeks of protests outside the gates of meat factories over the prices they were being paid for cattle.
“Undoubtedly, it was difficult. I think there was an element of wishful thinking insofar as that the minister could wave a wand and the price of cattle would jump. The minister has no role today or yesterday in those matters.
“What my function was, at all times was to try and secure as much funding at a government level and an EU level for Irish agriculture.
“In the context of that beef challenge in terms of prices, we did manage to secure significant additional funding at the time,” Creed said.
The protests were eventually wound down after the Beef Plan Movement and Meat Industry Ireland (MII) accepted compromise proposals put forward by Creed. This included the establishment of the Beef Market Task Force.
“It’s for others to write the chapter on the outcome of all that, but it was one of the big challenges,” Creed said.
Climate
Creed said that the issue of climate change will continue to be centre stage, regardless of what party is in government.
“We need to find a way that farmers can understand that the challenges around climate emissions, biodiversity water quality, are going to be continuous and will need to be engaged with head on, but in a way that doesn’t threaten farming viability,” he said.
“I’m quite confident, notwithstanding a lot of the noise that’s there, that we can meet that challenge.
“We’re better equipped to meet it than most of our competitors on the global food market because our systems are better in terms of our emissions intensity.
“We just need to remain focused on what is needed in the marketplace and to deliver it better than anybody else can. That’s the way we’ll secure the future.
“I think the sector can achieve more but needs to be financially supported to do it,” he said.