Macra has said it is disappointed with the “speed of delivery” on a new scheme promised by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide support to the ‘forgotten farmers’.
Minister Charlie McConalogue promised nearly a month ago that the scheme would be established to provide specific support to the group known as the forgotten farmers, who he said, were in their current position “through no fault of their own”.
There are an estimated 4,000 farmers who lost out on vital farmer supports due to cuts in public expenditure by the government following the last recession.
The forgotten farmers had typically set up their agricultural holdings before 2008 and were under 40 in 2015 but did not qualify for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) supports.
The minister said at the Macra conference in October that he would confirm details of a scheme in the “coming weeks” once the final go ahead was secured from the Department of Public Expenditure.
Forgotten farmers scheme
But Macra president John Keane said although the minister had outlined the initial criteria to qualify for the scheme at the conference, no further details had yet emerged.
Minister McConalogue told Agriland that he is currently “engaging” with the Department of Public Expenditure in relation to the scheme and plans to announce further details shortly.
He said a “commitment” had been made to putting a scheme in place that would address key issues for the forgotten farmers.
“There’s a fair job of work on it and there’ll be a fair job of work once we open it and indeed in terms of processing it all as well,” the minister added.
“But there is that commitment there to that category of farmer that there is going to be a scheme for them and we’re now working on the next steps.”
The minister indicated that there is no definite timeline for the scheme to be launched.
“I’m not sure if we’ll have it before Christmas now but we’re certainly working to try and deliver it as quickly as we can and I’m engaging with other departments in relation to that.
“It is going to be a little bit of time then as well to work it out, but the commitment is there, it’s clear that we’re going to do it and we’ll try and do it as quickly as we can,” he added.
Minister McConalogue said there was a lot of work in “identifying” the farmers who would meet the criteria for the scheme and there would be “lots of different categories within that as well”.
“We’re working if possible to have it done before Christmas,” he added.
According to Macra, the forgotten farmers, have however, waited long enough to hear what support may be offered to them.
“We would be disappointed if there wasn’t anything on the table soon and from our side of things if it is going to be after Christmas then that would be nearly two months since the minister’s initial announcement. We would have hoped that there would be more progress made on it,” Keane said.
He said the forgotten farmers have welcomed the commitment from the minister to get a scheme up and running. But Macra believes the criteria for the scheme set out by the minister “will need further work” to clarify the exact number of farmers that will be able to qualify.
“It is important after 12, 13 or 14 years for some of these people that something is going to be done and we did think that in a short time we would be around the negotiating table with the minister and his officials and get the best scheme possible for these forgotten farmers.
“But it would be disappointing if it is going to be after Christmas – to be fair to the minister he has given a commitment to this group of forgotten farmers but the speed of the delivery on that commitment has been a bit disappointing,” Keane said.