This article is from page 30 of the 2005-11-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
YOUNG people are being turned away from farming by an obsession with regulations and a lack of opportunity to expand the farming business warned IFA presidential can- didate, Padraig Walshe, last Nelo
Speaking at the launch of his election campaign, Pad- raig Walshe said Irish farm- ing is at risk of going into terminal decline, with dev- astating consequences for rural Ireland, unless radical changes are made in the way the industry is regulated and managed.
Mr Walshe said that farm- ers are being smothered with anti-competitive controls and regulations and with archaic
systems of trading. The presi- dential candidate warned that the EU authorities standards on food trade issues and the obsession with regulations are scientifically unjustified and are crippling the competitive- ness of farming in Ireland.
Mr Walshe also commented on what he called the archaic practices in the Irish meat in- dustry, describing it as ‘remi- niscent of the tangling days of 50 years ago’.
“A system where farmers do not know what price they will get for animals from one day to the next would not be tolerated in any other sector of the economy,” he conclud- ed. “The meat industry must come into the modern era and treat farmers as professional business people.”