Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesman Éamon Ó Cuív is calling on the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to increase the inaugural Genomics payment, which will come on stream next year, from €80 to €200 per head.
“This will be a one-off consideration, which should be permitted within the new rural development plan,” he added.
“I have no doubt that the Department of Agriculture can justify this in terms of the additional set up costs that will incurred by farmers. And, obviously, it will boost cash flows on livestock farms the length and breadth of Ireland.”
“There should be no requirement for Dublin to go to Brussels on this matter. There is more than sufficient flexibility built into the new RDP to allow Simon Coveney act on this matter quickly and decisively.
The Galway West TD continued: “The beef sector remains in deep crisis. And the reality is that a number of the challenges facing farmers are long term in nature. As a consequence, the Farm Minister must do everything possible to support the financial requirements of these producers over the coming months.”
Commonage
Continuing on the Rural Development theme, Éamon Ó Cuív congratulated the Hill Farmers for Action Group in having secured the scrapping of collective agreements, as a requirement for entry into the new GLAS scheme.
“They campaigned very intelligently on an issue that goes to the very heart of the challenge that faces hill farmers throughout Ireland,” he said.
“I attended the meeting which the group hosted in Bantry last week and was very impressed with the standard of the presentations made by the leaders of the campaign. They have managed to secure many of the changes to the RDP, which they had campaigned for, and I will be supporting all future attempts to get the outstanding issues over the line. I look forward to attending the upcoming Commonage Farmers’ Meetings.”