IFA calls for 20% cuts across the board

IRELAND’S competitiveness can only be secured by cutting costs across the board by at least 20%, according to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA.

Padraig Walshe, IFA president, told the association’s annual general meeting in Dublin yesterday that Irish farming and the food industry requires a much more competitive cost base to export into foreign markets and also to protect its share of the home market.

“In the Irish dairy processing sector, average earnings are €52,000 per year. That works out at €26.60 per hour. It cannot go on and there will have to be wage cuts, starting with top executives,” he said.