Three cheers for the men who tell it straight
Then Matt Dempsey, in the editorial page of the Irish Farmers' Journal, exposed some of the absurdities which follow when academia excludes commonsense, in this instance regarding the need for competition.
As he pointed out, it really is a bit rich to find one section of Ms Harney's department taking another section to court the only product of which is the further enrichment of the legal profession. And Stephen Cadogan of the Irish Examiner Farming section, with absolute clarity and no mercy, exposed the sham which has, with great determination, sought to discredit the CAP.
The CAP was established to cope with post war food shortages and to foster a society which would enjoy freedom from hunger and from future wars. It fulfilled these aims extremely well.
Sadly, its success attracted the attention of corporate finance, global trading and their spurious slogans 'free trade', 'market forces', etc.
That section of society is, even now, close to controlling the standard and quality of life of the majority on the planet and some of that majority are not doing very well.
In pursuit of that objective it hijacked the concept and the potential of the CAP, denigrating it because it required taxation to function.
The fact that society got good value for that tax, that multinational concerns are the recipients of at least as much taxation in various ways, even while many of them destroy the ecology, and that they require the occasional war to keep the show going, is not mentioned.
I could go on and on, but to Fergus, Matt and Stephen many, many thanks.
I do hope there are more than three wise men ready to concur.
Liam Cashman,
Woodview,
Glanmire,
Co Cork.
