Teagasc ‘cannot serve two masters’

A MEETING of the Teagasc authority today is a moment of truth for its relationship with farmers, IFA president Padraig Walshe warned last night, as the controversy over the EU nitrates directive continued.

He said Teagasc and its board cannot serve two masters. It is helping the Government to bring in damaging regulations which, by its own admission, will close half the pig industry and severely damage commercial farming and the future of the REPS scheme, while at the same time representing itself as the independent research and advisory service for farmers.

Mr Walshe said the Teagasc Authority cannot allow science to be distorted to make it easy for the Government to impose the nitrates directive. “The issue at stake was the independence of Teagasc and its ability to undertake independent research and publish its findings without fear or favour.