Live debate: candidates clash on suckler and ewe ‘auction politics’

Election promises from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin of higher payments per suckler cow and ewe are “auction politics”, Fine Gael’s outgoing Minister of State Martin Heydon has said.

Speaking on the Irish Farmers Journal’s live general election debate, Heydon hit out at the €350/suckler cow election vows from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, as well as the €35 and €40/ewe promise from Micheál Martin and Mary Lou McDonnald’s parties, respectively.

Heydon said these higher payments will create even more red tape for farmers.

“We have Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin entering into auction politics. Promising things to farmers that actually can’t be delivered on. We have to change that at European level. It has to be on a whole of farm approach.

“The fact is, we are in a situation here where there are loads of beef farmers not in the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) at present.

“It’s not because they don’t need the money. They’re not able to take on that level of bureaucracy; the hoops they have to jump through.

“Farmers are voting with their feet. They need that money and they want it, but there is such a level of bureaucracy.

“Even from the €225/[suckler cow payment], if you go to €350, the requirements on farmers would be so complex, they wouldn’t be able to join it,” he said.

Delivering

Outgoing Minister for Agriculture, Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConalogue said he did not accept his former Department of Agriculture colleague Heydon’s assessment.

“I totally disagree with the auction politics piece. It’s really important that in an election parties set out to deliver and then they go about delivering it.

“Being minister over the last four years I’ve shown the form and have the credibility in relation to actually delivering,” he added.

Incentivisation not the answer

The Green’s outgoing Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Pippa Hackett, said her party believes incentivisation is not the answer to supporting these sectors, but changing these farming systems.

“I know all the other parties have different figures - €300, €350, €400, €500/suckler cow. That’s putting the cart before the horse.

“You cannot keep income supporting a sector, farming enterprise. We don’t do it by income support.

“We do it by changing the system and how they farm. We support them from the ground up if you like, rather than top down with money,” the organic suckler and sheep farmer said.

Increased support

Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny called for more supports for suckler and sheep farmers, with his party committing to €350/suckler cow and €40/ewe.

He added that ability to access land is a huge issue for suckler and sheep farmers in making their enterprises viable.

“Farmers can’t afford to buy land when it comes up beside them for sale. In my part of the country, sometimes it’s because it’s forestry that’s buying it.

“In other parts of the country, sometimes it’s very big business that is making the money on something else and coming in buying the land,” he said.

Scheme complexity

On sucklers, Independent Ireland’s Eddie Punch criticised the complexity of schemes. The Clare general election candidate added that the current star rating system for beef farmers is off-putting.

“The schemes are too complicated. The four- and five-star obsession in the schemes is driving farmers out.

“They want to produce the export quality weanling. But most suckler farmers do not accept that they should get rid of a cow that is delivering for them high-value weanlings just because she doesn’t have the stars,” he said.