Officials in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are currently examining if financial support can be put in place for sheep farmers.

Agriland understands that Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has asked his officials to work on putting support in place for farmers in that sector, in light of financial challenges they are facing.

However, as department budgets for 2023 have been set and locked in place, any further funding for sheep farmers will have to come from monies reallocated form previously agreed areas.

It is expected that support for the sheep sector will be discussed in the Dáil this morning (Thursday, March 9).

Market returns have reduced considerably for sheep farmers, due in large part to the increasing cost of farm inputs.

For 2023, Teagasc forecasts that feed concentrates are projected to increase by 10%, while there has been no significant weakening in fertiliser prices, which are 195% higher than 2021 levels.

Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine yesterday evening (Wednesday, March 8), the president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Tim Cullinan, said that direct supports for sheep farmers must be increased to €30/ewe.

He added that the current financial issues facing sheep farmers are deterring new entrants to the sector.

Kevin Comiskey, the IFA’s sheep chairperson, was also present at the committee and said that the “crisis in the sector can only be alleviated by immediate direct support from government”.

Comiskey outlined a number of points that, in the IFA’s view, need to be addressed for sheep farmers, including: Increased market price transparency; the provision of an export benchmark price for lambs; the impact of imported live lambs and sheepmeat on Irish farmer prices; and control on the labelling of sheepmeat.

Recently, Minister McConalogue was asked by a cabinet colleague to consider what supports can be put in place for sheep farmers.

Acting Minister for Justice Simon Harris wrote to Minister McConalogue following a recent meeting he had with sheep farmer members of the IFA in his constituency of Wicklow.

Minister Harris currently holds the justice portfolio in the government during the maternity leave of Helen McEntee. He is also Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

In his letter to Minister McConalogue, Minister Harris said: “I recently met with Wicklow IFA to discuss a number of challenges facing sheep farmers in Co. Wicklow and across the country.

“They took the opportunity to outline to me the falling profit margins that they are making and it does seem to be quite significant when you compare 2022 figures with 2021 figures,” he added.