Macra has announced two days of action at the end of this month to highlight the issues and challenges faced by young people in rural Ireland.
The organisation informed its members that the national council recently voted unanimously to take action on several issues, including quotas on young farmers, and rewetting proposals.
On Tuesday, April 25, Macra will walk from Athy, Co. Kildare where it was founded in 1944 to Dublin and present its proposals for the future of rural Ireland to government.
Macra’s days of action under the theme “Steps for our Future” will see members walking 14 hours through the night to arrive at government buildings at 1:00p.m on Wednesday (April 26).
Macra
Macra president John Keane said the government “failed” to proactively engage with the organisation on many of its proposals around forming the future that rural young people want in Ireland.
The organisation said that the main issues that are coming to the fore for its members are:
- Accessing affordable housing and cumbersome housing planning guidelines;
- Disjointed and sparse healthcare services for rural communities;
- The government’s definition of a family farm as “average” and “typical”;
- No recognition or engagement by government on a farming succession scheme;
- Lack of planning for the future of our rural communities informed by rural people;
- Imposition of quotas on young farmers availing of grant aid support;
- Lack of public transport for rural Ireland;
- Proposals to rewet large areas of rural Ireland.
On behalf of Macra members nationwide, Keane has asked for rural people from all over the country to support the organisation’s days of action.
“We are the future of our rural communities, we want to remain in rural Ireland; what we want now is the government to support youth in rural Ireland,” he said.