The Irish Farmers' Association yesterday rejected a suggestion by the Minister for Agriculture that the organisation use negotiation rather than confrontation. Mr Walsh made his appeal as the IFA plans a State-wide tractor protest next weekend over farm incomes.
The core issue is the interpretation of farm-income figures which has been festering between the IFA and the Department since the Central Statistics Office announced an 8.5 per cent decline in farm income in 2002.
On RTE's Morning Ireland programme yesterday Mr Walsh, who said he was willing to meet the farmers at any stage, accepted that last year had been a poor year for incomes, but it had come after a 39 per cent increase in the average income in 2000 and 2001.
Some €2.8 billion of public funds would be spent supporting agriculture this year, about the same as last year, and €1.6 billion had been paid in direct support to farmers, an average of €13,000 to individual farmers.
"I do not accept that the Government has in any way neglected farmers. It has shown sympathy and care to the farming community as did the public during the foot-and-mouth crisis," he said.
He accepted that it had been a difficult year for farmers because of falling market returns from some of the markets, but he rejected the claim that they had lost €200 million in the Budget.
"There were some sub-heads where additional revenue had to be found, but the rest of society felt the pinch as well when it was found there was a shortfall in revenue," he said.
He denied that 20,000 farmers had been forced to leave the land in the past 10 years and said there were now choices to be made.
It was "patently untrue" to suggest farmers had been forced off the land because they had stayed in careers, and, thankfully, many had remained in rural Ireland, as had been shown in the last census.
On income levels, Mr Walsh said he rejected the IFA assertion that average farm income was €15,000. To compare like with like, he said, the average was €45,000.
He said he would like to see "farmers rolling in money", a phrase he attributed to Mr Proinsias De Rossa, president of the Irish Labour Party.
"It is a difficult occupation, it is a difficult time, but I would like to see farmers negotiating a solution," he said.
He said the IFA's phrase "silent extinction" did not fit in with the facts. It was very difficult to buy a farm because they were not available for sale.
In a statement last night, Mr John Dillon, the IFA president, accused Mr Walsh of being in denial over the true state of farming and the true level of average farm income.
"The Minister seems to be very confused, because €45,000 was the average level of gross output on farms in 2001, according to the Teagasc National Farm Survey, including direct payments of €11,500," said Mr Dillon.
"But, of course, production costs and overhead costs amounting to almost €30,000 per farm have to be deducted from the output figure in calculating average farm income," he said.
"If average farm income was as stated by Mr Walsh then farmers would not be taking to the roads of Ireland next week, and they would not be walking away from farming in their thousands to get a viable family income.
As preparations were under way for the "tractorcade" to Dublin, the Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers' Association said it would be backing the protest.