President of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) Vincent Roddy has welcomed the budget announcement of an additional €8/ewe to be paid through the Sheep Improvement Scheme.
However, this can only be seen as a starting point, as the overwhelming view of the budget is one of disappointment, he said.
"There is an urgent need to look again at the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) and other similar sources with a view to delivering an additional payment of €30/ewe that can be made available for all sheep farmers," he said.
"In ACRES, we are looking at an additional spend of €32m, which in Minister Donohue’s own words will support 50,000 farmers.
"This will accommodate an additional 4,000 farmers, which we believe could be 15,000 short of where we need to be," he said.
New money
He added that it is vital that the Government finds additional new money if the uptake exceeds 50,000 to ensure all farmers are supported through this scheme.
For suckler farmers, while additional State funding is being provided, this will replace support from the BAR, so for these farmers, there won’t be any monetary gain, he added.
"It vital that the Government seeks additional funding to support an extensive suckler sector that is vital to our rural economy and critical in delivering on the challenges around biodiversity and climate change," he said.
A final aspect in Budget 2024 relates to the infrastructure, climate and nature fund.
"With a budget allocation of €14bn by 2030, it is critical that we get a full understanding of this fund in terms of how it will be funded, but, more importantly, what it will be used for.
"As we face radical changes around land use driven by the nature restoration law and proposals to increase the area of land under forestry, there is a real concern that this fund could be used to take large areas of land out of agricultural use," he said.
