Island communities in peril, warns IFA

ISLAND communities will seriously decline unless positive Government action is taken to ensure their economic survival, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) warned yesterday.

The association’s president, Padraig Walshe, was speaking at a meeting with representatives of IFA island branches in Dublin and with Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon Ó Cuiv, as well as Department of Agriculture and Food officials.

He said that under the various farm schemes covered by the Rural Development Plan recognition must be given to the fact that the cost of the participation of 500 island farmers is more costly compared to their mainland counterparts.