Green Party MEP, Ciarán Cuffe, has broken his silence on the letter he sent to banking chiefs regarding loans to young farmers.

Speaking on RTÉ radio today (Thursday, December 9), the MEP said he was “wrong to single out young farmers” in the letter.

Almost two weeks ago, it emerged that the MEP had issued a letter to banking CEOs stating his concern about loans being approved for young farmers to increase their herd.

The letter was issued on European Parliament-headed paper.

Several requests by Agriland since then to receive comment or conduct an interview with the MEP have still been unanswered.

But in his radio interview, the MEP said it was wrong to focus his attention on young farmers when the entire economy needs to work to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

He said that his concern over the rapid expansion of the dairy industry in Ireland in recent years had spurred him on to write the letter.

This expansion, he said, was good for farmers but has put great pressure on the environment.

“I certainly shouldn’t have singled out agriculture when the entire economy needs to reduce its emissions. In fairness to what my colleagues are doing in government, they are working to incentivise organics, biomethane and forestry and all of these have a role to play in reducing our emissions.”

But, he said that we are reaching limits in some areas [in terms of emissions] and one of those areas is dairy farming.

He also said he was concerned about large loans in all areas, citing a report recently published by the European Central Bank, which looked at 118 banks, none of which “were aligning their lending with climate goals”.

Cuffe criticism

The letter has sparked outrage, with criticism coming from farming organisations, elected representatives and the farming community, who have been calling on Cuffe and the Green Party to explain why the letter was sent in the first place.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, recently stated that he did not support the move by the MEP.

Independent TD Carol Nolan said that she had been contacted by many farmers who were “extremely angry” because of the MEP’s actions, and the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) deemed the act to be “disgraceful“.