Farmers fear being labelled as frauds if they make a mistake, says ICMSA

ICMSA president Denis Drennan spoke directly to Taoiseach Micheál Martin and agriculture minister Martin Heydon, voicing the current concerns of the organisation's members

ICMSA president Denis Drennan addresses the AGM as Taoiseach Micheál Martin looks on. Also pictured are ICMSA general secretary John Enright, and deputy president Eamon Carroll Picture: Don Moloney

“If a department official, or somebody working in Government, makes a mistake, it's a clerical error. If a farmer makes a mistake, it's deemed to be fraud,” said ICMSA president Denis Drennan.

Speaking directly to Taoiseach Micheál Martin and agriculture minister Martin Heydon, Mr Drennan said: “Farmers are living in fear of making a mistake.” 

He called for simplification at the farm level for various schemes, saying the simplifications so far proposed “seem to be simplifications for the bureaucrats” and not the farmers.

Mr Drennan warned sustainable farming needed to deliver an income that was comparable to other roles, and farmers could not expect to uplift an economy if a recession is to occur.

In the last recession in the noughties, the Irish State turned around and looked at the farmers who had the green jersey on, and they were asked to drive on exports, and really drive on our biggest indigenous industry. If we don't look after the farmers, when you turn around the next time to see who has a green jersey on, we may not be there.” 

Mr Drennan welcomed the announcement of a proposed extension of Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation, but said the “devil will be in the detail” when it comes to the stipulations surrounding the proposal Irish farmers must adhere to if an extension is to be granted.

“We want the right measure in the right place, not every measure in every place, and there is a frustration building up, especially in dairy farmers, and even more so in derogation of farmers that we are really being targeted. We are the most compliant, most regulated and most inspected group of individuals in the country,” he said.

Also touching on generational renewal, Mr Drennan said young farmers need certainty from their ministers and Government if they are to enter the agricultural sector and try to establish a living.

“What the young people want, who are willing to enter the sector, is certainty. Agriculture needs to be able to generate an income that's comparable with other sectors. They need a stable income long term, not short term.”