Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association upset over funding measures

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association has called on Agriculture, Food and Marine Minister Simon Coveney to explain why scarce national funds were diverted to top-up a rescue package by the EU for dairy and pig farmers.

ICSA president Patrick Kent said while half of the €27.40m package is coming from Brussels, the rest is in the form of a Government top-up.

While he was sympathetic to the plight of dairy and pig producers, he said cattle and sheep farmers are manifestly worse off than their dairy counterparts.

He said that Teagasc reports that the annual dairy income is about €48,000 while beef and sheep farmers are lucky to make even a third of that amount.

“We remain a long way behind dairy farmers in terms of annual income,” he said, pointing out that beef farmers got a forum with no financial support when they were in crisis last year.

“In the event of another serious beef crisis, I fear that resources will not be there”, he said, asking how low do cattle and sheep farmers’ incomes have to go before they receive funding such as dairy farmers got.