There has been no government decision on any potential dairy reduction scheme and “no Exchequer funding provision is currently in place for such a scheme”, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has said.
Minister Charlie McConalogue also told the Dáil this week that “no decision has been taken by the government to proceed with such a scheme”.
“I have repeatedly stated that no farmer will be forced to reduce livestock numbers as part of the climate action plan process,” the minister underlined.
He said a key recommendation from members of the Food Vision Dairy Group “was to explore and take forward a voluntary reduction scheme for the dairy herd“.
“At the moment, I am engaging and consulting further with the Food Vision Dairy Group as to what that might look like before I make any further decision on it,” the minister added.
Dairy reduction scheme
He also stressed that “everything will be voluntary”.
“It is about providing options to farmers, voluntary options, and ones that will pay farmers. That will help us collectively to meet the challenge of reducing emissions over the coming decade.
“That is something I am confident we will do, and that is the approach we have taken so far and will continue to take,” Minister McConalogue added.
He told the Dáil that he has communicated to members of the Food Vision Dairy Group, including farm organisations “that they should come back to me further with what exactly they are talking about here, what it would look like, what exactly it is they are saying we should explore and what should it look like”.
“Once they come back with that, I will consider the matter further.
“Again, we will be doing it very much by working closely with farm representatives and all stakeholders, but particularly important in this is the farmer organisations,” Minister McConalogue added.
He also told the Dáil that in relation to the beef and suckler herd, voluntary reduction schemes will definitely not happen.
“Farming organisations said they were not in favour of it, and they were adamant on that. I want to work in partnership with farmers. I said fair enough. It is off the table,” Minister McConalogue added.