Sligo Council motion urges no cuts to farmer payments as Department of Agriculture told to save €26m

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

A motion before the June meeting of Sligo County Council heard calls for no cuts in payments to farmers following the news that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been asked to make savings of €26m next year as a result of an overspend in the education sector, with a levy of 1.3% to be applied for the Department of Agriculture.

“Farmers have faced a very difficult year so far, they won’t be able to pass on the increased costs,” said Cllr Thomas Healy when speaking to his motion at the June meeting of Sligo County Council.

The motion was supported by Cllr Michael Clarke who stated, “€4m has already been taken out of beef farmers pockets this year,” adding, “To think they are going to introduce a new tax is shocking.”

Highlighting the changes in recent decades in terms of food production, Cllr Clarke said, “Forty years ago, 80% of food was produced in our own parishes, now we are importing from all over the world. 80% of the food we eat is imported which is ridiculous.”

Hitting out at those in power, Cllr Clarke added, “As far as I am concerned, this Government has no vision in relation to farming.”

Cllr Gerard Mullaney also spoke in favour of the motion saying, “It is not a good time to be cutting funding to farmers. It is important we send a positive message to the Department that those savings need to be found outside funding to farmers.”

Cllr Ann Higgins also gave her backing to the motion when she asked, “How did we get here? Surely someone in the Department is looking at the trends. I don’t believe it is fair that anyone has to pay for poor financial planning and forecasting.”

Responding to that criticism of Government, Cllr Thomas Walsh defended the coalition’s track record as he remarked, “We’re one of the strongest performing economies in Europe due to prudency.”

That debate concluded with Cllr Healy commenting, “If money can be found without taking money from farmers, I’ll support that.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.