This is a subscriber-only article
The Government came in for harsh criticism at a meeting of MEP candidates organised by the IFA in Springfort Hotel, Co Cork, on Tuesday night.
Some 11 candidates took to the floor, including independents, Labour and Fianna Fáil, with Deirdre Clune the sole Fine Gael MEP candidate at the meeting.
Although divided on a number of fronts, the candidates united on lambasting Fine Gael on the issue of rural Ireland.
“What’s very real is the dismantlement of rural Ireland,” Sinn Féin candidiate Liadh Ní Riadh said.
She added that she was against a 15% cut to CAP, but that other member states did not want to fill the funding gap the UK would leave post-Brexit.
Her criticism of the Government was echoed by Labour candidate Sheila Nunan, who said that farming was one of the biggest drivers of the economy, but that the incomes weren’t attractive enough to retain primary producers.
Independent and Fight the Pipe candidate Liam Minehan told the crowd that without fibre optic broadband, rural Ireland was facing decimation.
“Even the churches are closing,” Minehan said.
Farmer Pat Mullins said that if Fine Gael had access to a €100m Brexit aid fund for farmers, it should “dish it out now”.
Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune defended her party’s track record and said Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed had laid out the issue of farmer compensation to the European Commission.
But IFA president Joe Healy closed the meeting by saying: “It feels like the Government is turning its back on rural Ireland.”
SHARING OPTIONS: