Gorman hits out at cuts to vital schemes
IFA chief Francie Gorman has railed against cuts imposed in several schemes for livestock farmers and called upon the Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, to reconsider these alterations.
“Suckler, beef and sheep are our most vulnerable farm sectors and rely on the income from these schemes for their viability. The payment in full must be made across the National Beef Welfare Scheme, National Sheep Welfare Scheme and the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme,” he insisted.
Farmer confidence in the department to deliver on vital supports has been shattered by these actions and Martin Heydon must honour his commitment to pay farmers as was agreed.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
ICSA: National Beef Dairy Weighing Scheme falls short
ICSA president Sean McNamara has described as outrageous the fact that farmers will be paid on just 31 calves under the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme, instead of the 50 they had been led to expect.
“The €4-million allocated to the scheme would have paid for 200,000 calves. However, after more than 305,000 calves were weighed by the 1 November deadline, farmers are now being told that up to 40% of their work will go unpaid for after the department slashed the number of calves farmers will be paid on,” he complained, seeking an immediate meeting with the minister to insist that those expectations of farmers can be achieved.
What is even more concerning is the fact that this cut comes on top of reductions to both the Beef and Sheep Welfare Schemes. Payment rates for 2025 are being cut from €75 for a calf to €67 in the Beef Welfare Scheme, and from €13 per ewe to €11.50 in the Sheep Welfare Scheme. This has again arisen because those schemes were oversubscribed.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
