On Thursday, the Irish Farmers Journal presented over 44,000 signatures to the European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan from the Save Our Sucklers campaign which was run earlier this year in association with the IFA.

On receiving the signatures the Commissioner said: “I am fully aware of the importance of the beef sector to Ireland and I will do all I can to protect it.”

Chair of the Agricutural Trust Matthew Dempsey presented the signatures to both the Commissioner and Christian Burgsmuller from the Malstrom cabinet.

When questioned on the current round of Mercusor negotiations taking place in Brussels on Thursday, the Commissioner said there were a number of outstanding issues to be resolved and he was happy with the current firm stance being taken by EU negotiators.

“I don’t expect as much progress to be made as some people may think,” he said. It is thought that an agreement has been reached, 99,000t of beef, a mix of fresh and frozen product will be allowed enter the EU tariff-free in return for barriers lifted on dairy products, cars and car component exports to the Mercusor countries from the EU.

Suckler cow

When speaking on a coupled support payment for the suckler cow the Commissioner said that he has put in place the necessary mechanisms for member states to decide whether or not to couple payments in the future.

“I have fought a long battle in relation to the budget and I have succeeded in protecting small and medium sized farm incomes through a reduction in the budget of 3.9% at a time when Britain is leaving the EU.”

There are tools available like voluntary coupled support that member states can exercise and protect rural areas including the suckler cow, which needs support.

“If member states wish to put more money into the budget, that will mean we can increase the budget but we need to convince member states to do this.”

Speaking at the meeting IFA president Joe Healy said the suckler herd is the backbone of our €3bn beef and livestock sector and suckler farming is vitally important to every rural parish across Ireland. He said suckler farmers are under huge income pressure and an additional payment for sucklers is essential.

Healy said the IFA has made the campaign for €200 per cow suckler support a top priority in the proposals for Budget 2019 and farmers are demanding the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Minister for Finance Pascal Donohue and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed deliver on this issue. “The Government must fully support the suckler herd and appreciate its importance for Irish agriculture and rural Ireland."