THE VIRGINIA Show provided healing space yesterday for farmers and the Government when Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith was greeted with courtesy and politeness on his first high-profile outing since his car was mobbed in west Cork some weeks ago.
The Cavan-based Minister hit the delightfully located grounds early yesterday and moved freely and without incident among the thousands of farmers and their families who had come for the big day out.
To copper-fasten what may well be a new relationship, Mr Smith paid a courtesy call to the Irish Farmers Association stand on the site meeting and greeted officials there.
“I am getting a good welcome here and people are expressing their views to me, but it’s very relaxed and everyone seems to be in good form,” said the Minister, whose constituency offices in Cavan town were the focus of farmer rage recently when up to 10,000 farmers turned up to protest over cuts in farm grants and supports.
He repeated that cuts proposed in the McCarthy report were proposals and not decisions at this stage and he would be consulting the stakeholders before anything was agreed by the Government.
On the Lisbon Treaty vote, Mr Smith said he was confident it would be won, “but we are going to have to work hard. We take nothing for granted.”
There was even applause when he finished an interview with George Hook of Newstalk, which was watched by dozens of farmers who lined up in front of the stage where the live broadcast took place.
Even the IFA people were in good humour, with the association’s national dairy committee chairman Richard Kennedy saying farmers had strong grounds for optimism in the dairy sector. He said he expected to see a tangible recovery in dairy markets in the coming months.
However, he said, as it could take some time for prices to return to viable levels, EU supports and greater flexibility from banks were needed to help dairy farmers ride out the current income crisis.
In a prepared speech, the Minister outlined what the Government was doing to achieve economic recovery and said the actions being taken, especially in farming, were not being taken lightly and were “the best, and in fact the only, route to recovery”.
On international markets, demand for dairy products had fallen but there was also increasing pressure on farmers and processors arising from the increasing negotiating power of the big retail chains. He had repeatedly drawn attention to the huge gap between what the farmer got and what the producer paid.
“Milk is a particularly stark example at present with the farmer receiving around 20 cent a litre, while the consumer pays six or seven times that, and more in many cases,” he said.
As ever, there was intense competition for what was billed as the prize for the best cow in the State. Again, there was a Kerry winner to join their Gaelic football team and the best dressed woman at the Dublin Horse Show.
Timothy and John Kirby with their Smearlaview Forbidden Vixen, from Derrindaffe, Duagh, Listowel, Co Kerry, captured the Baileys Dairy Champion Cow championship and the €8,000 prize. The runner-up was shown by Brochan Cocoman, Kilwarden, Kill, Co Kildare, with another vixen, Kilwarden Gibson Vixen.
Only the weather was unkind yesterday with gate receipts down. The overcast weather would not allow for the planned helicopter rides but there was plenty of water for the canoe exhibitions on nearby Lake Ramor.
Next year the committee may have phase one of the resource centre it plans to erect here to stimulate local jobs, food development and community activities with the aid of Leader funding and €365,000 in voluntary subscriptions.