IFA president urges 20% cut in cost base to stabilise the economy

A 20% CUT in the cost base was urged yesterday by Irish Farmers’ Association.

IFA president Padraig Walshe said immediate action to restore competitiveness in export-led sectors was just as critical as dealing with the public finances in the current economic crisis.

“All the indicators pointed to a minimum 20% cut in costs, including labour costs, to prevent massive job losses and the transfer of our food manufacturing industry to Britain,” he said.

Mr Walshe said a competitive farming and food industry could be one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal economic climate.

Farming and the food industry, plus services, provide 300,000 jobs and foreign earnings worth €8.7 billion, which is 17% of net exports.

Mr Walshe said the food sector was struggling with the sterling exchange rate, and jobs would be lost every other day unless the competitiveness issue was addressed.

One glaringly obvious decision the Government could take immediately would be to cut electricity prices by 20%, he said.

Oil is now a quarter of its peak price used to justify electricity prices.

Meanwhile, Macra na Feirme president Catherine Buckley said government efforts to stabilise the public finances cannot impact on agriculture, the country’s largest indigenous productive sector.

Otherwise, it could result in an effective ban on new entrants to farming, which would prove detrimental to the industry.

Ms Buckley said facilitating young agri-entrepreneurs helped create competitiveness and jobs in rural areas.