The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has “turned his back on farmers’ interests” by opposing the Impaired Farm Credit Bill 2022, the Rural Independent Group has said.
Minister McConalogue voiced his opposition last Thursday (November 17), during a Dáil debate on the private members’ bill, which lays out a number of measures aimed at protecting farmers from banks and vulture funds.
During the debate, the minister stated that he does not believe the bill would assist farm families, and said “fundamentally, the restrictions it places on debt recovery in the sector are such to dissuade financial institutions from lending to the sector in the future”.
“Looking at the bill objectively, there is no evidence base to support the proposals that a separate debt management protocol and legal framework is required for agricultural property,” he said.
The independent group stated that this “is a glaring admission that the lobbying power of bankers is dictating the government’s position”.
“We are astonished that Minister McConalogue deliberately blocked our legislative proposals to give greater protections to family farms from the predatory practices of vulture funds,” said Independent TD for Cork south-west Michael Collins.
“Our practical policy proposals aim to provide breathing space to allow farmers to work with the receivers in developing solutions to avoid a sell-off situation of the farm.
“Families need to be assured that seeking money to fund their farming livelihoods will not cost them their homes,” he added.
The bill also outlines plans to create a state-run institution which would extend credit to farm enterprises on low-interest rates.
However, Minister McConalogue stated that data from the Central Bank and Teagasc’s National Farm Survey “strongly suggest that the primary agriculture sector is well placed to manage debt, and that default rates are generally among the lowest in the economy”.
“Central Bank data shows that credit advanced to primary agriculture was €686 million last year and credit outstanding at the end of 2021 was just over €3 billion.
“The Teagasc National Farm Survey for 2021 shows that across all farm systems, six out of ten have no farm business related debt,” he added.
Deputy Collins said that Minister McConalogue’s statements during the debate “resembled something of a love letter to bankers”, and added that his position on the matter “fails to recognise the lack of competition within the Irish banking system, as banks continue to rip off everyone with some of the highest international borrowing costs”.
A vote on the bill, which is currently at the second stage, is set to take place in the Dáil at 10:00p.m on Wednesday, (November 23).