Mayo farming facing uncertain future due to ongoing beef crisis
FARMING in Mayo is in a very difficult place, according to Mayo TD Lisa Chambers.
Speaking in Dáil Éireann, the Castlebar-based representative stated: “The beef crisis that we have seen in this country in recent weeks is unprecedented.
“The price of beef is unsustainable. Farmers are operating at below cost. One can buy a steak in supermarkets for €3.
“There is something wrong there. It is a cheap food policy and farmers are suffering as a result.
"With Brexit coming down the tracks and the Mercosur deal that the Government signed our country up to, farmers will be under increasing pressure for years to come.
“We need to look at the policy at an EU level as well. If we want sustainable food produced within the European Union to feed EU citizens that is of good quality under good regulations, we need to pay for it.
“We cannot pursue a cheap-food policy and look to import beef from other countries that we do not need and can produce here. That is a job for this government to fight for at an EU level.
“We have seen thousands of farmers protesting in recent weeks at factory gates. There are farmers at those gates who felt they had nothing to lose.
"They were at a point where they were not making money. Their farms were not viable, and they felt they had no option but to take to the picket line.
“We heard reports from the Central Bank that if Brexit goes badly - that is a distinct possibility now - one third of farms in this country could go under.
“Many of those farms are sustaining rural communities right across the country. Many are in my constituency of County Mayo.
“If we want to sustain rural Ireland and our way of life and if we want money in local economies and farm families protected, the government needs to act now,” concluded Deputy Chambers.
In an open letter to Agricultural Minister Michael Creed earlier this week, Mayo Aontú representative Paul Lawless stated: “This week you as Minister for Agriculture issued an open letter you mplied that farmers will be to blame for the problems facing the beef industry.
"In the letter you stated: 'The future of the Irish Beef sector is in your hands. Please don’t be responsible for its destruction. The futures of your fellow farmers are in your hands. Please don’t be responsible for their livelihoods.'
"The letter was patronising and frankly offensive to those of us who bravely fought on the picket lines for the beef sector and rural Ireland
“Our fate and that of our children in rural Ireland are in your hands. You as Minister for Agriculture have presided over the demise of the beef sector, an utterly dysfunctional beef industry.
"Indeed, many farmers believe the industry is so flawed these protests are 20 years too late. It’s an industry where processors make millions of euro from the poverty and debt of farmers while paying less than 1% tax in Luxemburg.”