Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue must “wake up to the reality facing farmers and act”, according to Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture, Claire Kerrane.
The Roscommon–Galway TD is calling on the minister to urgently address the “serious concerns” raised by farmers over the past week.
This includes delays to farmer scheme payments, the cut in the nitrates derogation and the crisis in the sheep sector.
Farmers
Deputy Kerrane said that these issues remain outstanding despite being raised with Minister McConalogue for several months.
“What we are seeing now is several of these significant issues coming to a head following months of the minister failing to listen to farmers and failing to take action to address these concerns.
“Back in May, I raised the delays of payments – the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) schemes – directly with the minister in the Dáil and several times since, including before the Dáil recess in July.
“I asked the minister to instruct his department to expedite establishing the new system to avoid delays to these crucial payments and believe, if there was a will to do so, it would have been done,” she said.
Kerrane
Sinn Féin believes that the mechanism on which the review of Ireland’s nitrates derogation was based is “flawed”.
“It is also disappointing that Minister McConalogue was not transparent with farmers about the presence of this mechanism and the required review for months after the Nitrates Action Plan (NAP) was approved, and this is something my colleague Matt Carthy highlighted for some time,” Kerrane said.
The Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture added that there has been repeated calls on the minister to provide supports for the sheep sector.
“I have quizzed the minister on the potential use of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) to provide much-needed supports to sheep farmers, but he has stated that this is not possible without any explanation.
“It is really disappointing that these significant issues have been presented to the minister many times and, despite the alarm bells being sounded from farmers, we are in the situation we are in today.
“It is not too late for the minister to engage constructively on these key issues, and I am demanding that he does so as a matter of urgency.
“This is no way to treat farmers. The Minister needs to wake up to the impact of his decisions and the reality for farmers,” Kerrane said.