As farmers enter their second day of protests in Dublin, IFA presidential candidate John Coughlan voiced his support for the farmers. “Farmer protests are a demonstration of the frustration and fear of farm families up and down the country,” he said.

Understandable

“This is about fair prices for hard-working farm families. While the manner in which these frustrations are being expressed can be questioned, the motivations behind them are understandable.”

He continued to criticise the “toothless taskforce” that failed to get the farming groups around the table to negotiate a fairer deal for farmers.

“The Government is hiding behind a bureaucratic blanket, playing right into the hands of meat processors who are only too keen to capitalise on delays as an excuse to keep prices low.”

Requests

Coughlan repeated his requests from his letter to the chair of the taskforce that was written in October.

“Compliance with the spirit of the strand one benefits of the original beef agreement must be established alongside clarification on the status of legal injunctions.

“Furthermore, the taskforce chair needs to put forward specific meeting dates and times to get everyone back around the table. This will flush out meat processors, as well as putting an onus on all parties to be responsible and respectful.”

Scapegoat

He said that the increasingly urban mind-set of Irish people are using farmers as a scapegoat for those that are failing to take a solutions-based approach to the challenge of climate change.

“A fractioning farm community is bad for farmers. A disconnect has seeped in between the IFA and those it should serve.

“As a result, we cannot be surprised by ongoing events.”

He called for a meaningful change in the IFA as “farm unity can only happen if we take actions that are responsive to farmers’ needs”.

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