The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was told bluntly yesterday by the Irish Farmers' Association that their members were not prepared to accept "the crumbs left over after a pay deal" in the partnership agreement. The warning was issued at the IFA's annual meeting in Dublin.
The IFA president, Mr John Dillon, issued the warning immediately after the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had told journalists there would be no rolling back of measures in the Budget and Book of Estimates, which the IFA claimed had cost farming €200 million.
Mr Ahern said the Budget decisions stood and that had always been the case but "there are mechanisms that are being talked about and which we are trying to assist on".
"Decisions which are part of the Budget will have to be implemented," Mr Ahern added.
Asked if he had anything he could offer to the farmers in the partnership talks, the Taoiseach said the Government was very anxious to have the talks brought to a successful conclusion.
"The farmers have been central to that for the past 15 to 16 years and I will do all I can to help them remain in that position," he said.
Mr Ahern told delegates, who had given him a warm welcome, that the farming pillar was important to the national partnership strategy. In particular, he said, the IFA had been there from the beginning in 1987 of the partnership process and had contributed positively.
"The partnership process and the economic stability which it has fostered have, in turn, served farming well. Farming is one of those sectors which needs stable economic circumstances," he said.
The current talks, he said, were taking place against a more difficult internal and external background and he would not pretend the talks were not without their difficulties.
But he warned there were "real limits" on what could be provided by Government in an expenditure contest and he had heard no one argue that there should be increased borrowing.
"I believe that framework still exists within which these issues can be thrashed out and settled in a satisfactory manner," said Mr Ahern, who acknowledged farmers had had a difficult year in 2002.
Mr Dillon said the inclusion of farmers in the agreement was now a matter which rested entirely with the Government and he reminded Mr Ahern it was the only sector where living standards had fallen for the past seven years.
"I will not accept a situation where the Government spends a further €2 billion annually on the 7 per cent pay deal and benchmarking for public servants and then tells farmers the cupboard is bare," he said.
"Without the participation of the farming community, our largest native industry, any new agreement cannot be called a national partnership agreement. I am deadly serious, the onus is now entirely on Government to find a balance between all sectors of society, including the farming community," he said.
He said as a first step, he wanted the reintroduction of the National Development Plan and then the Government to recognise the value of farming.