McConalogue feels the heat in the west on key issues

There was no shortage of views, opinions and analysis, including how the Government has performed in relation to rural Ireland at Maam Cross.

Martin Coughlan

October 19 2021 07:58 AM

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue was criticised by farmers on a multitude of issues at a meeting in Maam Cross Mart last Wednesday night.

The minister was there to hear what farmers in the west of the country wanted to see in the next CAP programme and outlined that because the current negotiations are two years behind schedule, whatever deal is struck will only run for five years, as opposed to the normal seven.

However, farmers took the opportunity to voice their dissatisfaction with the Government regarding a number of topics, including its treatment of rural Ireland, the closure of peat power stations and its failure to “ring fence” carbon tax revenue generated from farming for the benefit of farming. The Green Party came under fire for appearing to want to “punish those who produce food”, and the logic of protecting the environment while denying the right of locals planning permission to live in that environment was also criticised.

The question on whether a better approach might be a carbon tax on food, which the consumer — as the end-user beneficiary — would pay, was ducked. On the matter of Single Farm Payment convergence, the minister was left in no doubt that those present want it as soon as possible, including some who claimed they would lose money.

Short-sighted

The peat power-station closures were slated as “short-sighted” and there were questions in relation to what studies Teagasc had done on the sequestering of carbon in rural Ireland, particularly in relation to the west’s traditional low livestock density.

Minister McConalogue outlined his department’s options in relation to everything from front-loading payments and payment convergence, and said there was a large raft of proposals and schemes in relation to how farmers could make back the 25pc of monies being moved from pillar one to pillar two. He also said the EU’s policy on food production was moving to one where “environmental measures and payments operate in parallel with food security and production”.

In response to the accusation that any new eco CAP deal would only see “a rollover of misery” for farmers in the west, the minister conceded the environmental schemes were as yet “not broad enough”.