An Irish MEP has invited members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) to visit his constituency.
Chris MacManus, who represents Midlands North-West, wants his European colleagues to see and hear how Brexit and other global challenges are impacting farmers in the region.
The Sinn Féin MEP said that there was uncertainty created in recent years around how the Northern Ireland Protocol would be implemented. He is hoping that the Windsor Framework will now bring a sense of stability.
“We need to recognise that quite a lot changed for the agri-food sector on the island of Ireland since 2016 and especially since the Withdrawal Agreement came into effect.
“We’ve had the protocol and now the subsequent framework. We’re hopeful that as soon as possible the [Northern Ireland] Executive and Assembly will be up and running,” MacManus told EuroParlRadio.
“But from my point of view as an MEP that represents a very rural constituency, I’d very conscious of the importance of the family farm model that we have in Ireland and they don’t have so much in Europe.
“I thought it was important that we would invite a group from the [EU Parliament] agricultural committee,” he added.
The MEP has written to the chair of the AGRI committee, Norbert Lins asking him to visit the Midlands North-West.
“So far, MEPs have been positive in response but obviously we have to wait further down the line until we get formal approval,” he said.
Committee
MacManus said that the purpose of the visit would be to allow the committee to meet and speak directly with farmers and farming organisations in the border region.
“If the representatives from the AGRI committee come over to Ireland, get to talk firsthand and get to understand the importance of the family farming model, they may go back then and have a better understanding.
“While they understand in the wider abstract the impact the protocol has had on the all-island economy, to understand the actual impact on farmers and the agri-food sector, they need to hear it firsthand.
“Britain is the largest market in terms of agri-food, I think it is up to €40 billion a year for the European Union and we’re its nearest neighbour,” he said.
“So they need to come over, get that sense of what’s going on in Ireland and hopefully come back with a better understanding and therefore showing more leeway to the Irish farmer,” the MEP added.