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Fianna Fáil is calling on the Minister for Agriculture to reverse his linear cut approach to the new Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) suckler scheme.
“The Minister informed my parliamentary colleague Deputy Eugene Murphy this week in the Dáil that there would be a linear cut to BEEP payments if the programme was oversubscribed,” Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesperson Charlie McConalogue said.
“This is totally unacceptable for hard pressed farmers who were promised a payment of up to €40 per calf as part of the Budget 2019 announcement.”
Depressed
He added that depressed beef prices and the looming threat of a no-deal Brexit mean that the Minister should be doing everything in his power to give certainty to the suckler sector.
“Instead, he is talking down and diluting this new €20m pilot which was announced in the Budget last year,” McConalogue said.
“The Minister must at once provide certainty for farmers applying to this pilot and reassure farmers there will be no diminution to payments which were originally promised. He must also commit to working towards a €200 suckler cow payment and not put any further road blocks in its path.”
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