Farm cuts ‘will cost 12,300 jobs’

THE farm cuts proposed in the McCarthy Report will lead to 12,300 job losses, a €430 million drop in output and a greater burden on the social welfare budget than the savings made by An Bord Snip.

Those are the findings of a study carried out by the Irish Farmers Association and outlined yesterday at a press briefing on the fringes of the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show.

IFA president Padraig Walshe said the proposed cuts will seriously undermine the positive contribution of agriculture to the rural economy.