THE Republic's two main farming organisations, the IEA and the ICMSA, have called on the Government to resist any pressure to revalue the pound. This would force farmers to take a cut in, income as export prices dropped, they said.
"It would be absurd to put the exporting sectors of the economy at a permanent competitive disadvantage relative to our future EMU partners based on a temporary surge in sterling's value," said Mr John Donnelly, president of the IFA.
Mr Donnelly said present uncertainty about the Government's intentions was putting upward pressure on the value of the pound against other European currencies.
"The Government can resolve the uncertainty by categorically - ruling out the revaluation option," he added.
His call was echoed by Mr Frank Allen, ICMSA president, who warned that farmers could not tolerate a further drop in their incomes, which would follow inevitably from a move to revalue the pound.
"Three revaluations which have already taken place since November last year have resulted in income cuts which farmers can ill afford. The last thing the agriculture community needs right now is another revaluation," he said.
