Tim Cullinan, the new IFA president, demanded that the next Government stand up for Irish farmers and fight for a €2bn CAP budget in his inaugural speech at the IFA AGM this week.

“The next Government must fight for a bigger CAP budget.

“They cannot limit their ambition to maintaining the budget at its current level. At the very least, the budget has to cover inflation and the cost of any extra requirements on farmers,” he said, adding that in 2019 the CAP injected €1.8bn into the rural economy.

It’s unbelievable that our own minister left €25m

“I want to set out a clear target for the incoming Government. Between EU funds and national co-financing, we need that €1.8bn figure to be increased to at least €2bn,” he said.

Cullinan also took a swipe at Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.

“It’s unbelievable that our own minister left €25m behind because he “cocked up” the terms and conditions of his own scheme,” he said, in reference to the €100m Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM).

We don’t want production reduction and we don’t want restrictions

He called on the Government to roll-out this €25m money to farmers before the general election vote on 8 February.

He called for a second BEAM-type scheme for beef farmers who suffered losses since 12 May, but without the conditionality of the current scheme.

“But let me be clear: we don’t want limits. We don’t want production reduction and we don’t want restrictions.”

Brexit

With the UK leaving the EU on 31 January, the Tipperary pig farmer said the threat of a bad deal, or of no deal at all, is still a real possibility. He called on the EU to play hard ball with the UK and singled out EU Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan, saying the EU-UK trade deal will be his biggest political test.

“Our Government has to be strong at the European Council. Our man at the Commission table, Phil Hogan, has to put in hard tackles and cut out any solo runs.

“And if we don’t get the right deal, or we end up with no deal, a multibillion euro EU package will be needed to save Irish farmers and the agri-food industry,” he said.

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Cullinan calls for €25m in unspent BEAM money to flow before election