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In a meeting with the IFA and other stakeholders on Wednesday, the Department of Transport accepted that the commitment to consultation on a tractor test had not been honoured.
The Department assured the IFA delegation that full consultation would now take place on all aspects of the relevant Statutory Instrument on the test, which was controversially signed into law by the Minister for Transport, Shane Ross at the National Ploughing Championships.
Following the meeting, IFA president Joe Healy said: “There was an acceptance that the consultation process promised to the IFA will now take place in full with all aspects on the table.
“We will now get down to negotiations with the minister and the Department to ensure that normal farming activities are excluded from tractor testing.
“We expect all tractors used for farming and for bringing farm produce and raw materials to and from the point of sale will not be subject to testing.”
Impractical nature
Commenting on the decision by the Department of Transport to immediately suspend the implementation of the SI governing certification and regulation of so-called fast tractors, the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association welcomed the suspension and the commencement of a consultation process.
John Comer said that, on foot of the urgings of the ICMSA and others, the Department seemed to have accepted the impractical nature of the changes mooted.
He said the ICMSA would, as part of the stakeholder consultation process, happily work with the Department to come forward with a new SI that permitted farmers using T5 tractors for farming and agri-related matters to continue to do so.
Comer said that credit was due to the Department for the speed with which they had accepted the fully justified protests of farm organisations and moved to rectify the situation.
Common sense
Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) president Patrick Kent has said it is time for common sense to prevail on the issue of tractor NCTs, following the meeting with the Department of Transport.
“The lack of consultation regarding the introduction of this directive has resulted in ludicrous proposals being presented, such as the unworkable 25km rule.”
This has resulted in widespread panic among farmers who felt they were going to be penalised for simply carrying out their farming activities
“A process of engagement with stakeholders has now begun which will hopefully bring a sense of clarity to the situation.
“The ICSA will be pressing the Department to ensure that NCTs will not apply to tractors used for the purposes of farming or agricultural contracting.”
Sensible and rational approach
Meanwhile, Independent TD Mattie McGrath has strongly welcomed the decision by the Minister for Transport to revoke the implementation of new regulations that would have seriously restricted the ability of farmers to use tractors with a maximum design speed of up to and including 40km/hr.
McGrath was speaking after Minister Ross personally confirmed to him that the proposed regulations would not be enforced prior to a full consultation with all agricultural stakeholders.
“This is a victory for common sense.
“I warmly commend Minister Ross for adopting a very pragmatic approach to this issue in the face of over-zealous activity on the part of the Road Safety Authority and those who have no real consideration of its potential impact.
“I can only hope that if and when similar regulations are considered in the future, that they will be formulated by those who have some clue about the daily challenges that farmers face in order to carry out their work.
“For now at least, a sensible and rational approach has been adopted and that is to be welcomed,” he said.
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