This article is from page 42 of the 2009-12-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 42 JPG
CLARE farmers have seen an in- come drop of almost 30 per cent in the last 12 months.
That is according to new research issued by the Central Statistics Of- fice last week, which indicates that farmers in Ireland have been affected worse than any other farmers in Eu- rope by the recent “collapse” in farm income margins.
The results have come as a result of ongoing poor commodity prices, Government cuts, unprecedented poor weather conditions and the con- tinued weakness of sterling which 1s damaging Irish agriculture exports
to the UK.
Reacting to the figures, IFA presi- dent Padraig Walshe said that it has been a devastating year for farm families in Ireland.
“The agriculture minister must re- flect the dreadful income situation in farming at cabinet and deliver a proper funded REPS scheme for farmers leaving REPS 2 and 3. He must also ensure there are no further cuts or additional costs imposed on the sector,’ he said.
“The stark reality is that aver- age farm income is now between €13,000 and €16,000 for full time farmers. The Government proposal to close REPS is simply not a run-
ner as it will collapse the already dire incomes of at least 20,000 drystock farmers and leave them with incomes below €10,000.
‘Already cuts in vital schemes to- talling €130 million have impacted severely on farm income. Govern- ment expenditure on farm schemes accounts for less than one per cent of total net Government expendi- ture and if equity is to prevail, cuts already imposed on the sector must be reversed.”
The IFA president called for the Government to support the pro- ductive agriculture sector through maintaining funding for vital farm schemes and ensure that changes to
the taxation system are equitably ap- plied and do not undermine the com- petitiveness of the export sectors.
‘The carbon tax would further in- crease production cost by €17.5 mil- lion per year which is a further 1 per cent cut in national farm income,’ continued Mr Walshe.
“The minister should exempt farming from this tax because no alternatibe fuels are available, farmers cannot pass on the extra cost to the market and any further income cuts to the sector would be intolerable.
“This situation already exists in France where farmers are refunded the cost of the carbon tax there.”