This article is from page 65 of the 2008-10-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 65 JPG
FARMING groups and opposition politicians joined in criticising the negative effects that the budget will have on agriculture with particular concern being voiced over cutbacks to the early retirement, waste man- agement, suckler cow and disadvan- taged area schemes.
Stating that it was time for the backbenchers in Fianna Fail to stand up and be counted, Clare Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen asked if they would continue with the old Fianna Fail double-speak, saying one thing in the constituency and the opposite when they come to the Dail?
Referring to the Farm Waste Management Scheme, he said many farmers fear that they will not be paid because the allocation for the scheme has already been spent this year. He urged the Government to make a case to the European Com- mission on extreme hardship. Oth- erwise, the farmers of Clare and elsewhere will pay a huge price for its inaction in not protecting the ag- ricultural industry.
His party colleague, Deputy Joe Carey accused the Government of sidelining Ireland’s farming commu- nity and forgetting their needs.
The early retirement scheme, de- signed to give farmers who had
worked hard all their lives a small reimbursement at retirement, was been abandoned. The installation aid for young people beginning their farming careers was also scrapped at a time when there was a need to retain as many young farmers on the land as possible.
A 10% increase in rainfall was recorded at Shannon in the first 10 months of the year and it would have been entirely appropriate for the Government to extend the deadline for the Farm Waste Management Scheme by six months. Fine Gael through a private members motion sought this extension but it was de- feated as Fianna Fail and the govern- ment voted against it.
ICSA rural development chair- man Gabriel Gilmartin warned that budget cutbacks would be a central issue in next year’s local and Euro- pean elections.
He said the cuts in Disadvantaged Area payments and the halving of the Suckler Cow Welfare scheme were grave news for farmers. The average farmer in the west of Ireland farming 45 hectares of average land, with 40 cows was now facing a loss of €2,655 p/a on top of the one per- cent income levy. This compared with a banker earning €100,000, who would be only €1,000 worse off as aresult of the budget.