By Chris Ashmore
Over 2,200 Donegal farmers are set to lose valuable Rural Environmental Protection Scheme grants worth an average of €6,200 each under new government proposals.
If they go through, many farmers in the Finn Valley fear that they will no longer be able to keep farming. The loss to Donegal farmers could be nearly €14 million.
The Government wants to scrap REPS 4 – but farming organations are reacting with outrage.
Previous REPS scheme have been very successul but any curtailment could have devasting effects for the local economy.
“The Irish Farmers’ Association leader Padraig Walshe is hoping to meet the Taoiseach Brain Cowen about the proposed cuts. If he does not receive a favourable response, we will set the hounds lose,” Donegal IFA Deputy chairman, PJ McMonagle, stated in Letterkenny.
And he added: “We are going to stick with this. We have tried the diplomatic route with problems in the past and it has not worked. I am not saying that we are going to get militant but we will change the style of the direction that we are going.”
Farmers also fear that they will lose out through a reduction of Disadvantaged Area payments.
This week the IFA confirmed to the Finn Valley Post
that it will protest outside the offices of Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith in Cavan on Saturday. A meeting has also been arranged with Tánaiste Coughlan this Friday.
“I have never seen as much anger among farmers. There is a real desparation,” commented Donegal IFA Development Officer, Davie Keith.
He pointed out that if farmers lose REPS money they may be forced out fo farming. This would leave them seeking assistance from the state – job seekers allowance payments would be more than REPS – and they would also not be producing. “It’s a lose, lose situation,” he declared.
Around 150 farmers in Donegal staged protests on Saturday outside the offices of three Fianna Fail Dail deputies – Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, in Donegal Town, and Dr. James McDaid and Niall Blaney, in Letterkenny.
On Monday, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) staged a protest outside the Department of Agriculture in Dublin.
Its Donegal based ICSA president Malcolm Thompson said: “We are sick of farmers being seen as soft targets. Our message is that we will take this no more. This is likely to be the first shot back in a summer of discontent.”
“Farmers have been unfairly singled out for more excessive cuts than any other sector in the October budget. The closure of the REPS scheme is potentially devastating. For many farmers, especially in the cattle and sheep sectors, the REPS scheme is a substantial component of their income. Many farmers will see their income halved from these budgetary cuts and when product price drops and bank repayments are factored in, incomes will be wiped out totally and some will be put out of business.”
The protests were part of a nationwide series of actions outside the constituency offices of Government deputies.
Under REPs, farmers must adhere to certain regulations that promote environmentally friendly and sustainable farming.