Coveney insists department will help farmers to secure feed
The assurance came from Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney yesterday as he defended his handling of the crisis.
He also told a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture yesterday he had instructed farm inspectors to exercise greater sensitivity towards farmers while carrying out their duties.
However, opposition politicians criticised the department’s response as too little, too late.
“There is a lot of stress in the farming community. It’s a bit like not being able to feed your children,” Mr Coveney told TDs and Senators. “In this very stressful period we have instructed our inspectors to be much more sensitive in how they deal with farmers. We cannot stop inspections but farmers will see a different attitude taken.”
Following the announcement by the minister on Wednesday of €1m funding to cover transport costs of importing fodder, Mr Coveney said the country’s co-ops had all agreed to dramatically step up the importation of hay from Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
“There is no reason why any animal in Ireland should be starving at the moment,” the minister told the committee, chaired by Fine Gael TD Andrew Doyle.
“If a farmer cannot buy food we will pay to feed their animals. It is primarily an animal welfare fund. If animals are starving and farmers cannot afford food for them we will give it to them. What is needed now is not money but feed and access to fodder.”
Mr Coveney said banks had expressed a willingness to offer flexible facilities in the current crisis but claimed farmers are not accessing them. “There is significant credit available but it not being drawn down,” said the minister.
“Ulster Bank say they have €25m available for loans to farmers but they are not accessing them. Other banks have specific teams in place for farmers. I will take an aggressive line with the banks if that is not actually happening.”
Fianna Fáil’s agriculture spokesperson Éamon Ó Cuív said he had raised the fodder crisis in the Dáil four weeks ago and the department’s response was too slow.
He also said talking about credit to farmers already in financial difficulties would do nothing to solve the problem.
“This is a twin problem,” said Mr Ó Cuív. “There is the physical issue of fodder but also there are many farmers who are in significant financial difficulties — a lot of the grief and hardship experienced by farmers would not have happened if something had been done earlier.”
His view was echoed by Sinn Féin’s Martin Ferris who described the minister’s €1m fund as “totally inadequate”.
- Farmers in difficulty are asked to contact the Department of Agriculture’s helpline on 1850-211990.
