Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has outlined a potential timeline for the introduction of a voluntary dairy cow reduction scheme.
Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action, Minister McConalogue said that he was aiming to flesh out the details of such a scheme this year, with a potential roll-out of the measure in 2024.
He told the committee: “One of the recommendations of the Food Vision Dairy Group was that we should explore and look to take forward the option of a voluntary reduction scheme.
“Our target is to have that clarified by the end of the year.”
In answer to a question from Green Party Senator Pauline O’ Reilly, the minister said: “I indicated a month or so ago that 2022 would be the reference year for any voluntary reduction scheme that we step out, to give as much clarity as possible to those that might be considering it.”
Minister McConalogue also commented that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine needed to make sure there would be “no unintended consequences” from the scheme.
“I have laid out 2022 as a marker in that regard,” the minister said, adding that he would engage further with stakeholders in the sector in relation to how we step that out.
“By the third quarter of this year we’ll have that clarified. Next year we expect would be the follow up to that.”
The minister has already been urged by one farm organisation to outline details of the scheme as soon as possible.
According to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), the delay in details being issued is “playing with the futures” of farm families.
Speaking last month, the association’s president, Pat McCormack, said that the uncertainty around the scheme could be “ruinous” for these families.
“[The department hasn’t] announced a thing since then and the lead-in time for making decisions on dairy farms is at least two years,” he said.
McCormack said that farmers that may have considered the scheme “are still completely in the dark”, with the 2023 calving season underway and 2024 breeding programmes being planned.
“Farmers can’t think in terms of political cycles…we have to work seasons in advance and it’s really frustrating the we have to point this out to the political masters,” he added.