Numerous instances of fallen animal collectors charging farmers higher fees than permitted by the Department of Agriculture have been flagged with the Department over recent years, the IFA has claimed.
However, the IFA has said that the Department has repeatedly failed to show any enforcement action against those that charge above the allowable farmer fees, while they continue to access State subsidies for their services.
The allegation comes as the IFA’s animal health chair David Hall hit out at knackeries, saying that they are using farmers as “pawns” in their ongoing dispute with the Department as they look for a new fallen animal collection scheme.
Hall insisted that any change to farmers’ fees for fallen animal collection services must be kept off the table during the dispute.
The animal health chair’s comments follow a meeting between the IFA and the Department at which Hall outlined “clearly yet again the failures in the current Fallen Animal Collection scheme for farmers”.
Animal collection
Hall argued that the current caps on farmer fees shouldn't rise and criticised both Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and the Department itself for allowing the knackery row to crop up yet again.
The IFA has maintained that the fallen animal collection and disposal system is in need of a complete overhaul to guarantee that services are accessible to farmers at competitive rates.
The IFA chair called on Minister Heydon to ensure that all animals are collected in a timely manner from farms over the course of the dispute.
The maximum fees farmers can be charged by fallen animal collectors as set out by the Department:
