The exclusion of farmer input into the Government's proposed 10-point action plan for supporting the dairy beef sector is absurd and disappointing, according to Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Denis Drennan.

He argued that while the plan has merit, its potential was hugely undercut by the complete lack of any consultation with the very farmers who would be those supposed to implement the bulk of the actions.

"This was yet another in the increasingly long line of State initiatives where the Government decided on measures without consulting the stakeholders, published their proposals and then engaged in token consultation with the stakeholders afterwards.

"This approach has been hugely damaging and wasteful and the Government needs to reacquaint itself with the actual meaning of consultation," Drennan said.

Climate-efficient beef

The ICMSA, he added, firmly believes that a vibrant dairy calf-to-beef system can be developed in Ireland that will deliver probably the most climate-efficient beef production system in the world.

"Dairy beef production accounts for in excess of 60% of total beef production in Ireland, delivering billions in net foreign earnings for the country, while the Minister allocates a measly €6m per annum to support dairy beef production.

"This is in sharp contrast to, for example, organic farming with an annual budget of €56m and indeed forestry with a budget of €110m for 2024,” noted Drennan.

Irish farmers need to see a dairy beef calf scheme with a substantial exchequer budget that will deliver a payment for both the calf rearer - subject to certain conditions - and for the beef finisher, he said.

Secondly, the beef price grid needs the long-overdue reforms that stop the ridiculous penalising of dairy beef - the beef that now comprises the substantial majority of total Irish beef production, continued the ICMSA president.

"We could have pointed all this out and helped design a real plan with real capacity to solve a real problem. But we weren’t even asked," he concluded.