June 9th, 2010

Cahill says Teagasc farm income survey shows who really paid for systematic mishandling of farm sector - “dairy income collapse a clear result of idiotic policy”

Commenting on the Teagasc farm incomes survey, the President of ICMSA, Jackie Cahill, said that comment on such a disaster was superfluous and the figures showed who had really paid the price for the systematic mishandling of the farm sector over the last decade. Mr Cahill said that the collapse in all farm incomes was nearly overwhelming but he said that the collapse in dairy farmer incomes - a sector he described as one of state’s key earners of export revenue - was nothing less than catastrophic and was particularly disturbing because so much of the collapse was completely caused by idiotic policy at governmental and EU levels. Mr Cahill said that he’d love to be able to reassure his members that the lessons had been learned but the grim truth was that those whose ridiculous analysis and policy had so contributed to the 48% collapse in incomes for specialist dairy farmers were still in their positions and seemed to be intent on taking the Irish dairy sector back down the road to ruin it was only just emerging from.

“It is also significant that this very recent data on the implosion of farm incomes comes at a time when a major report on the future of Irish farming up to 2020 is nearing completion and the finalisation of the EU High Level Group report on dairying is also about to be handed-in. ICMSA is convinced that unless the issues of stable prices and supply-management are addressed - and in our opinion those issues are directly linked - then the disaster of the last two years will be repeated. We already see a tendency to ignore or forget the lessons of the last two years and the near-halving of dairy farmer income. ICMSA will not permit the same mistakes to be made by the same people because they don’t pay - they never do - it’s the farmers who pay the price for disastrous policies made by people carefully insulated from the wreckage caused by the policies”, concluded Mr Cahill.

Ends. 8 June 2010.

Jackie Cahill, 087-2820663
President, ICMSA.

Or

Cathal MacCarthy, 087-6168758
ICMSA Press Office

BACK TO NEWS