Living and farming in west Clare: the issues

Lack of political leadership, rural depopulation and water costs for farmers were all raised by local farmers during a discussion event held by the Irish Farmers Journal in conjunction with Clare Local Development Company.

More than 50 farmers attended the event at the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon on Friday 8 June, where there was an open invitation for farmers who were asked what they felt the issues in their area were.

‘‘Something that needs to be rural-proofed is the price of water. Along the Wild Atlantic Way, if we dig down one foot we hit seawater.

‘‘Farmers might be able to dig their own wells in the midlands but here farmers have no choice but to get council water and we’re paying the same price here on our dairy [farm] for water, as someone in Dublin who is running a big business.

‘‘Our bill is over well over €6,000 a year. That’s not sustainable.

‘‘When Irish Water was talking about the price of water and the amount businesses were going to have to pay, no one ever thought of the effect it was going to have on a small dairy farmer on the west coast of Ireland.’’

‘‘I think the biggest problem that all of us have in the west of Ireland is rural depopulation.

‘‘People are leaving it and we’re not getting young people to come back.

‘‘We have to have a young generation here, and that is going to involve tourism. There are so many things that the Government seems to have ignored.

‘‘The Wild Atlantic Way is a fantastic initiative. Of course, there have been issues with pressure on local facilities and increased traffic but what the Government needs to do is differentiate between people living on the west coast of Ireland and somewhere like Dublin in terms of tax.

‘‘We’re told that the tax on Loop Head is the same as Dublin and that’s one of the big things that needs to change if we want to encourage young people to stay in rural areas.’’

‘‘Unfortunately, we’re getting the same price for milk as we were getting 30 years ago and I wouldn’t encourage my own children to go into farming.

‘‘It’s a pity, because we need young people to keep the local sports teams, schools and shops going but if a farm isn’t viable at 50 cows or if they try to subsidise the farm with an off-farm job sure that’s a life of slavery.

‘‘There’s something wrong that the price we are getting hasn’t increased. I can deal with Bord Bia inspections, but the issue is that there’s been a lot of inflation in prices and we’re not getting compensation for it from the quality product we’re producing.

‘‘My kids are in their 20s now and to be honest I can’t see them going into farming and, with the spring that we’ve just had, I’m glad that they weren’t farming.’’

‘‘People objecting to buildings or infrastructure that would improve tourism but who aren’t from the community are an issue.

‘‘There was a development for a cliff walk in Kilkee, and it is thought that people from outside the area objected.

‘‘Farming is the biggest part of rural Ireland, but tourism also plays an important part. We have a big problem with political representation because we don’t have the population to vote for them. We do not have a Healy-Rae shouting for us in west Clare.

‘‘The farm organisations all do their work but we need political representation to change policies and help tourism and there’s a lack of leadership.”