With the current cost of producing lamb, sheep farmers are not going to survive, according to Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) sheep chair Seán McNamara, who demanded more support from Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, the factories and Bord Bia at a protest outside the Dáil on Tuesday.

The ICSA is demanding that the Government come forward with an emergency support package of €50m for sheep farmers - to be funded from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).

It also wants the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) increased towards €30/ewe and an extra €5/ewe for correct presentation of wool.

"A payment of €12/ewe is an insult to sheep farmers and the work they do. As a CAP support, it is pitiful; the payment is simply not fit for purpose and must be revised upwards as a matter of urgency," McNamara said.

Factory price

It is currently costing €7.20/kg to produce lamb and farmers can't be expected to take €6/kg from factories, McNamara argued.

"If they [factories] are not prepared to pay us a decent price for our produce, they can do without it. We're losing at least €30 per lamb. We are not going to survive, so we have to fight our battle," he said.

He also said that Bord Bia is not marketing Irish lamb in the right places.

"In the last two weeks, I was in a Spanish pub owned by a man from Co Mayo; he said he could neither get Irish lamb or beef. And he said to me he wouldn't mind what he'd have to pay for it.

"What is Bord Bia doing that they cannot send lamb out to that market," McNamara said.

They urgently need to be thrown an economic lifeline

Speaking at the protest, ICSA president Dermot Kelleher said that farmers who are working seven days a week to put food on people's tables are experiencing severe financial hardship.

"They urgently need to be thrown an economic lifeline – not thrown to the wolves," Kelleher said.

Brexit

Brexit brought untold turmoil to the sheep sector and the ramifications are still being felt to this day, McNamara continued.

"The New Zealand lamb imports are a consequence of Brexit; the weakness of sterling since 2016 is a consequence of Brexit; and the importation of more than 500,000 lambs per year in live and carcase form is a consequence of Brexit," he said.

The purpose of the BAR, he argued, is to mitigate the negative effects of Brexit and there should be no reason for those monies to go unspent when sheep farmers are in such dire straits.