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The nursing home fair deal scheme will be one of the top items on the agenda for Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill as he takes up his new role as the chair of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Cahill said that it was time the scheme was “up and running” in order to ensure it supported farm families.
The Tipperary TD is a former president of the ICMSA and still has a dairy herd in the premier county.
Climate change
Other issues on the agenda would be climate change, Brexit and the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
“We need to take climate change into account and see how implementing measures can ensure that farms stay economically viable,” Cahill said.
He also pointed to convergence and the issue of “forgotten farmers” who are still calling for a redress scheme after falling through the gaps of various young farmers schemes.
Forestry
The challenges facing the forestry industry were also touched on by Cahill, with many in the industry facing job losses as serial appeals mean that timber cannot be harvested.
“It’s totally unacceptable what’s happening,” Cahill said, adding that the recent ash dieback compensation scheme introduced in June this year also appeared to have issues.
“We need to come up with a forestry strategy that can help us meet our climate targets.”
TB
Cahill also added his voice to the many who have disagreed with recent TB letters informing them of their herd status.
The letters were issued by the Department of Agriculture and he said he himself had received one for his dairy herd.
“If you’ve a clear test, you should have a clear herd and that should be the end of it,” he insisted.
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