€1m emergency aid to tackle fodder crisis

A €1m emergency aid package to help farmers deal with the escalating fodder crisis has received a mixed reaction.

With record wet weather conditions leaving many farms in desperate need of imported animal feed supplies as debts mount, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney was under growing pressure to act.

However, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association president John Comer said the scheme was “hopelessly insufficient” set against the scale of the crisis as he pleaded with the Government to immediately trigger EU solidarity funds.

Boherbue Co-Op general manager Declan O’Keeffe called for the fund to be expanded to cover costs of transporting fodder sourced within Ireland also, saying: “It would have been better if it included native supplies.”

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association criticised the slowness of Mr Coveney’s response, but said the aid was welcome.

“The ICSA has been calling for the minister to step in and take action to alleviate the pressure on Irish fodder supplies for some time now, but it is better late than never,” said the organisation’s national suckler chairman Dermot Kelleher.

The situation has caused such concern that suicide and self-harm awareness centre Pieta House has been training vets in the Munster area to recognise suicidal signs in farmers they are dealing with.

The Government scheme will cover transport and import costs from Apr 15 and operate through dairy co-ops.

Mr Coveney, who today is meeting bank representatives and co-op chiefs to discuss the crisis, said the initiative would cut the cost of a bale of hay by one third.

Irish Farmers’ Association president John Bryan warned farmers were using meal to expand their fodder supplies and were running up big bills with suppliers as a result.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of not doing enough, telling the Dáil: “There is a real crisis out there. There is a credit problem and it is looming and getting worse for the millers, the co-operatives and the farmers.”

Mr Kenny insisted that only “relatively few” farmers had contacted the Department of Agriculture for help.

The Taoiseach added: “The issue has arisen because of the hardness of the weather over the past several months.

“The next few days and weeks will be critical for farmers. The relationship between farmers and their animals is very close.”