FARM CUTS:ONE FARMING group had already held a mock funeral in Raphoe, Donegal yesterday marking "the death" of Irish agriculture even before the €305 million annual savings cut proposals were announced.
Farmers, the only section of Irish society already out on the streets over cuts, were even more disturbed yesterday when they learned the knife could cut even deeper than they thought.
The Irish Farmers’ Association president Padraig Walshe said they indicated a clear collaboration between the authors of the report and the Department of Agriculture.
“A large part of the recommendations to terminate the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme, close Reps and further reduce Disadvantaged Areas payments have already been imposed on farmers by the Department of Agriculture, who are in denial about the impact they are having on farm family incomes.”
What they did not know were the recommendations to increase animal welfare levies, reduce compensation for TB and brucellosis- infected animals and virtually do away with An Bord Bia, for which they pay levies, and slash the number of Teagasc staff and centres.
The special group recommended reducing the number of staff employed by the Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Forestry by 1,140.
Enterprise Ireland would take over the export promotion functions of An Bord Bia and Bord Iascaigh Mhara, and the remaining functions would be absorbed back into the Department of Agriculture.
On Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, the recommendation was to cut 450 jobs, sell its surplus assets and reduce its operations to 35 locations as against 150 at present.
In addition, it proposed to transfer agriculture research funding to a new funding stream for all research, enabling agricultural research to compete with other areas on the basis of economic return over a fixed period.
On Coillte, the forestry service, the group recommended a major review of all its operations, asset disposal and possibly, privatisation.
While Teagasc and Bord Bia were making no comment on the proposals last evening, the farm organisations were expressing outrage at them.
The president of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association Jackie Cahill said that impact of further cuts in the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme combined with the complete withdrawal of Reps 4 would mean that a huge number of the State’s small- to medium-sized farmers will now be forced to resort to social welfare.
He said the proposed dismantling of An Bord Bia was inexplicable and obviously counter-productive and the report was both a tragedy and a disaster.
Malcolm Thompson, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheepowners’ Association which had staged the mock funeral in Donegal yesterday morning, said the cuts were “a bridge too far”
“The proposed cuts will decimate the productive part of overall agricultural expenditure. Farming has already taken a hit of some €270 million and this adds another €115 million.”
Agriculture, Fisheries Food
Key cuts
Teagasc rationalisation €30m
Reps savings €80m