Any support for the suckler herd needs to actually benefit Irish farmers and not be pocketed by the beef processors, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, has said.

“We all acknowledge that there needs to be support put into this sector, but it is important that this support actually benefits Irish farmers and Irish agriculture, and isn’t ending up being pocketed by the processors or someone down the road within the processing system,” he told an IFA suckler and beef meeting on Monday last in Ballinasloe, Co Galway.

Minister Naughten said there is no recognition in relation to the price that is being paid to farmers on the cost of production.

“There’s no incentive for them to pay farmers more for the product they produce. The consumer, the supermarket and the EU need to decide – if they want better, safer, carbon-efficient beef, then that costs money and they have to be prepared to pay for that.

“That isn’t the case at the moment and that’s reflected sadly in the price that farmers are taking in relation to the beef that they are producing,” he said.

Minister Naughten also said that the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) has been “too bureaucratic”, that it has been badly communicated from day one and that a farmer focus scheme is needed.

IFA reaction

IFA president Joe Healy said there is huge need to support a sector that underpins so much in this country, a sector that is probably practised in every parish and village in this region – the suckler cow sector.

“There has been huge income pressures on the suckler cow sector. Our key priority in the budget is support for €200 for the suckler cow.

“It is up to the minister and the Government if they want to ignore the statistic that a drop of 80,000 to 90,000 cows is a loss of €305m to the economy,” he said.