IFA: Compensation for beet growers only
Padraig Walshe told the IFA annual general meeting in Dublin that with one stroke of the pen last November in Brussels, the EU agriculture ministers wiped out the future livelihoods of Ireland’s 3,700 beet growers.
An EU compensation package of €130 million is available to the Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan for the loss of the sugar sector.
“It is within the minister’s power to allocate this compensation directly to beet growers and the IFA has made this case strongly to the minister. However, the department is hiding behind the small print from Brussels.
“But the small print in the EU regulations won’t change the political reality. Taking this money from farmers and giving it to Greencore is a non-runner,” he said.
Mr Walshe also said there is no question of the IFA accepting 2006 as the reference year for the decoupled payment.
The Government might think it is clever politics to have beet growing in an election year, and if it’s commercially possible, that’s fine, he said.
“But what is utterly unacceptable is to squander a large portion of growers’ compensation just to pay for keeping Mallow open until after the general election,” he added.
