A formal request has been made to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to allow all farmers in the Sheep Welfare Scheme to update their reference numbers.
Making the request, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has written to the minister setting out the importance of the scheme and the need for it to accurately reflect the level of activity on participant farms.
Commenting on the matter, IFA National Sheep Committee chairman Sean Dennehy firstly welcomed the rollover for the transition period and providing for new entrants to the sector.
“While acknowledging the willingness of the minister to have reference numbers for the scheme reviewed, this process lacks clearly defined criteria,” he said.
It must be standardised to provide all farmers with the opportunity to have updated reference numbers established in a straight-forward manner.
Dennehy said the rigid adherence of the terms and conditions of the Sheep Welfare Scheme to the reference numbers established in 2014 and 2015 has “effectively reduced the level of support” available to sheep farmers.
Where numbers have reduced on participant farms or where farmers exited the scheme, this money has been lost to the sector, he contended.
Continuing, the chairman said the constraints of the historic reference period have meant that progressive sheep farmers, who are the future of the sector, are “penalised with low numbers of eligible sheep”.
The IFA wants all farmers in the scheme to be provided with the opportunity to have their reference numbers brought up to date to accurately reflect the level of activity on the farm in a straight-forward process.
Dennehy said this is a critical amendment to a scheme that sheep farmers depend on to ensure the scheme appropriately supports the progressive sheep farmers who are vital in sustaining the future viability of the sector.