Browse the photo gallery for a selection of the pictures taken by our photographers at the IFA protest at the EU Commission offices in Dublin on Monday 31 August.
Over 2,000 protesters turned up despite the rain to protest at poor prices across the sectors. Speaking at the event, IFA dairy chairman Sean O'Leary said dairy farmers' margins have come down 92% in the last 16 months. "We need the EU Commission to fulfil its legal obligation under regulation 1308/2013 and review the intervention reference thresholds in light of increased production costs and raise those prices to provide a genuine safety net reflecting higher costs. This would send an immediate and longer-term message to global buyers that EU dairy products cannot be bought below cost,” he said.
IFA national grain chairman Liam Dunne said the EU Commission has failed to recognise the serious income challenge facing Ireland's 11,000 full- and part-time tillage farmers.
"Grain prices for the third year in a row are insufficient to cover production costs," he said. "In addition, the onerous greening requirements, coupled with a significant cut in growers’ basic and greening payment scheme, will aggravate the already serious income situation."
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Watch: IFA president Eddie Downey pours a couple of hundred kilos of grain onto Lower Mount Street at a protest outside the EU Commission offices in Dublin
Eddie Downey called on Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and the Department to deliver all payments on time and within the deadlines set down in the new Charter of Farmers Rights. He said with the income pressure on farmers this year there is no room for any delays whatsoever on payments.
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Over 2,000 protesters turned up despite the rain to protest at poor prices across the sectors. Speaking at the event, IFA dairy chairman Sean O'Leary said dairy farmers' margins have come down 92% in the last 16 months. "We need the EU Commission to fulfil its legal obligation under regulation 1308/2013 and review the intervention reference thresholds in light of increased production costs and raise those prices to provide a genuine safety net reflecting higher costs. This would send an immediate and longer-term message to global buyers that EU dairy products cannot be bought below cost,” he said.
IFA national grain chairman Liam Dunne said the EU Commission has failed to recognise the serious income challenge facing Ireland's 11,000 full- and part-time tillage farmers.
"Grain prices for the third year in a row are insufficient to cover production costs," he said. "In addition, the onerous greening requirements, coupled with a significant cut in growers’ basic and greening payment scheme, will aggravate the already serious income situation."
Watch: IFA president Eddie Downey pours a couple of hundred kilos of grain onto Lower Mount Street at a protest outside the EU Commission offices in Dublin
Eddie Downey called on Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and the Department to deliver all payments on time and within the deadlines set down in the new Charter of Farmers Rights. He said with the income pressure on farmers this year there is no room for any delays whatsoever on payments.
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