Sheep farmers took to the streets of Roscommon town today, Monday, February 13 in a protest organised by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) to highlight the ‘income crisis’ on sheep farms.
IFA president, Tim Cullinan and the organisation’s sheep committee chairman Kevin Comiskey led the protest which started at Roscommon Mart and saw farmers walk up the main street of Roscommon Town.
Both the IFA president and sheep committee chairman took to the podium outside Roscommon Mart in the aftermath of the demonstration, to highlight the struggles of sheep farmers and made further calls for greater supports from the government and those involved in the marketing and processing of sheep.
TDs in attendance were also encouraged to bring the message being sent out today of the ‘crisis the sheep sector’ to the Dáil and more pertinently, to the Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue.
Speaking in front of the crowd that gathered in Roscommon, IFA president Tim Cullinan said:
“This the third event in the sheep sector the IFA has held in a number of weeks. Why? Because the sheep sector matters.
“It’s a critically important sector in rural Ireland. We have 36,000 farmers involved in this sector, 75,000t of sheepmeat was produced by that sector last year.
“This resulted in a turnover of €476 million in sheepmeat exported out of this country and you, the sheep farmers played a significant role in that, all the while input costs skyrocketed last year.
“I understand the importance of this sector and we [IFA] will do everything we can to ensure we get out of this current crisis.
“Why are we here in Roscommon this morning? Our sheep chairman [Kevin Comiskey] came to me last week saying we need to push this on again, we aren’t being listened to, and we decided on Roscommon town as it is your typical rural place that depends on agriculture,” Cullinan added.
“Sheep farmers along the western seaboard and in the west; sheep farmers keep the economic wheel turning, right from west Cork up to Donegal and we will do what we can to ensure that continues.”
‘Save our sheep sector’
Banners for today’s protest read ‘Save our Sheep Sector’ and rallying cries of “save our sheep sector, more government supports needed and factories… start paying up”, could be heard around the town.
The IFA sheep committee chair, Kevin Comiskey apologised to farmers for bringing them out to Roscommon today but said it was out of “pure necessity” that they had to and warned that the organisation will go further if needed, to ensure a viable future for the sheep sector.
