Relevant Matter
Public policy or programme
Public Policy Area
Agriculture
Period
1 Jan, 2022 to 30 Apr, 2022
Specific Details
Suckler Cow and Ewe Target Payments
Intended results
To get a commitment from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine that a minimum funding of €300 per cow and €30 per ewe is required, especially in peripheral areas to ensure land abandonment doesn't become part of the future.
Irish suckler farmers operate one of the most environmentally sustainable beef farming systems in the world and are a critical component of beef production, with higher environmental standards being imposed on farmers.
The proposed scheme is very disappointing for its lack of ambition to provide meaningful support to the sector. The proposed payment rates in the new scheme falls well short of what is required to support the suckler cow. Furthermore, the proposed funding allocation will only pay 385,000 cows in 20,000 herds. As IFA has outlined previously, the scheme requires a funding commitment that delivers €300 per cow in support for the Suckler Cow sector.
For the proposed Sheep Improvement Scheme, the proposals lack ambition to provide the opportunity for participants to generate €30 per ewe. The €20m proposed for the scheme with proposed payments of €12/ewe will only be available to 1.7m ewes. This is 20% less funding compared with the initial allocation for its predecessor, the Sheep Welfare Scheme which had an initial allocation of €25m.
Additional funding is needed to protect the sheep sector's long-term viability and as we have said previously, the scheme must have a funding allocation to deliver €30/ewe to all participants for all ewes applied on. Land abandonment is a problem that is becoming real, already over 7,500 eligible ANC applicants have a stocking rate exemption applied to them which means they are stocked lower than 0.15 lu/ha averaged over the year.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Tim Cullinan IFA President, Brendan Golden IFA National Livestock Chairman, Damian McDonald IFA Director General, Declan Hanrahan IFA National Livestock Vice Chairman
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Informal communication (2-5)
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Charlie McConalogue
Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Brendan Gleeson
Secretary General (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Patrick Donohoe
Special Adviser (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Pippa Hackett
Super Junior Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Martin Heydon
Minister of State (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Jack O'Donnell
Special Adviser (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)