Irish family farmers deserve a government that delivers fair prices, a fair CAP and fair play across the board, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) national council on Tuesday afternoon.

"Farmers are forced to take prices from factories, processors and retailers that often act like cartels," she said.

"Everyone knows how much the farmers get paid by the factory, everyone knows how much the consumer pays in the supermarket.

"But nobody - outside of a very limited circle - knows who is making huge profits off your product in between," she continued, to loud applause from the farmers assembled.

In what was her first visit to the Irish Farm Centre, McDonald and Sinn Féin's agriculture spokesperson Martin Kenny answered questions from the IFA's national council.

Reliefs

Quizzed on Sinn Féin's proposal for a wealth tax, she said that actively farmed land "irrespective of value, would be a no-go area".

She also reiterated her party's commitment to existing agricultural relief and other farm tax reliefs.

Martin Kenny added that the challenge is that a decent-sized farm needs to give an income to two generations to bring a new generation of farmers in and "break free from survival mode".

Kenny also said that the government could be doing more on delivering equity in the food chain. "The government can have a firm hold of regulation to control pricing, which they choose not to do," he said.

Derogation

McDonald stated her party's strong support for the nitrates derogation, criticising the outgoing government's performance during the mid-term review that saw the cut to 220kg organic N/ha.

Kenny came under heavy questioning following his recent comment that the derogation would not always be with us - "the derogation has to be kept in place and we have to fight to keep the derogation", he said.

Mercosur

On Mercosur, McDonald said Sinn Féin "had been explicit" in its opposition to the deal. Kenny went even further.

"The other party leaders here today (Simon Harris and Micheál Martin) said they were opposed to Mercosur as it is presently constructed," he said.

"We're opposed to Mercosur and there's a full stop after that - we're not leaving the door open."

McDonald described the carbon tax as a "lazy" government measure - "the easy thing to do".

"It has not reduced our emissions and is extremely unfair, felt in the likes of Connacht that don't have transport options."