Disadvantaged areas scheme ‘vital’
ICMSA rural development committee chairperson Tommy Cooke said the payments were worth over €230 million a year and were essential support for more than 100,000 farm families in disadvantaged areas.
But the ICMSA was growing increasingly concerned about the future of these payments in the context of the EU review on the designation of areas as disadvantaged.
Given this country’s actual physical remove from the EU’s mainland market, it is impossible to overstate how important it is for the minister to ensure that all the existing disadvantaged areas are retained and that any others are included.
Mr Cooke said in the face of full decoupling, which will be introduced from January 1, farming will face a deal of uncertainty and threat.
It was absolutely critical that those farmers already hardest-pressed through their location in disadvantaged areas are not abandoned.
“ICMSA will not tolerate any meddling with their status as farmers in disadvantaged areas,” he said.
Meanwhile, ICMSA dairy committee chairman Dominic Cronin has welcomed the decision to cut animal disease levies by a third. It will release an estimated €5 million for farmers in 2005. And the ICMSA is pleased with the progress made in relation to TB and brucellosis.
