Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has made a commitment to farmers to oppose the Mercosur deal and said that it makes “no sense” to facilitate the importation of goods “produced to much lower standards” in terms of the environment.
The Fianna Fáil leader spoke at the national meeting of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) today (Tuesday, November 12) as part of the general election campaign.
IFA president Francie Gorman had asked the party leader about his plans to support farmers in the area and said that farmers “are not asking for compensation”.
“What we want is a level playing field, and that deal in its current form undermines our beef and our poultry industry in particular, and it can not be allowed to go through,” Gorman said.
Martin said that he is generally in favour of trade deals, however he said that Mercosur presents “a fundamental problem” in terms of Europe’s “very high” environmental, climate and food standards.
Martin said that deal could “not be supported” in its current form and discussions are continuing with french ambassadors.
Micheál Martin
While addressing farmers, Micheál Martin said that he would “stand by” the record of his government in supporting farmers.
“We secured funding of €10 billion for farm families between EU and exchequer funding. We supported 55,000 farmers to join ACRES [Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme].
“We created the first ever Agrifood regulator and supported innovations which are crucial to the future of the sector. And we’ve responded to urgent challenges as they’ve arisen for different sectors,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.
However, he added that he wanted the country “to move on to a new agenda of permanent security” for farming and for the expansion of our agrifood industry.
The Fianna Fáil election manifesto provides over €280 million per year in new funding for agriculture.
“Our proposals involve detailed commitments on protecting and improving farm incomes. These proposals are about delivering secure and decent incomes.
“They included improved payments for sucklers and ewes. Increasing support under the Dairy Beef Scheme and expanded support for tillage,” Martin said.
Climate
Martin also made a commitment to “work every day” to protect the country’s nitrates derogation.
The party aims to create a permanent ‘Farming for Water’ scheme for all affected areas. This would provide detailed advice and funding on a new level.
It would include a one-to-one level of support to plan and then to access funding to implement improvements.
In terms of climate, one of the proposals also included by the party is for a new income volatility taxation measure.
This would allow farmers to defer up to 5% of gross receipts in any year – and an emergency weather and flood damage scheme together with a one-stop-shop for farmers to access emergency assistance.