A trailer load of 4X4 round bales of straw has arrived at the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Dublin.
The Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA) protest over the proposed cap on payments under a tillage crisis fund is beginning to gain momentum as more supporters arrive. The proposed fund would apply to farmers who lost crops last year.
Only the IFA delegates who stayed in the department building last night are allowed to enter the building. New arrivals will have to remain outside due to “health and safety reasons”.
The level of engagement between the IFA and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, over the protest has been disappointing, Healy told AgriLand this morning, July 6.
There has been little or no contact between IFA representatives and Minister Creed, or his closest advisers, since the association’s grain committee decided to stage a sit-in at department headquarters yesterday afternoon.
Over the past few months, both the IFA and the department have made great efforts to work together on issues facing the Irish agricultural sector, according to Healy.
Not often you get to unload straw in Dublin City! @IFAmedia protest gains momentum! #ifasitin pic.twitter.com/VLX2BPFctI
— Agriland (@AgrilandIreland) July 6, 2017
“The relationship seems to have broken down on this [tillage] issue. We are eager to work this out with the department as soon as possible,” he said.
It is believed that the issue of payments relating to a proposed tillage crisis fund for farmers will be brought up during the order of business in the Dail today.