Emergency aid needed for ‘besieged’ sheep sector

“The sector is in crisis and the financial losses of sheep farmers are increasing. When cattle breeders – and recently also pig farmers – found themselves in similar loss situations, immediate aid was secured.

“The same must now be done for the sheep farmers. The livelihood of sheep farmers is no less important than that of cattle or pig farming.”

ICSA is proposing an emergency grant of €20/hd for a maximum of 500 lambs sold at significantly reduced prices over the period August 2022-February 2023.

Mr McNamara said conditionality must be kept to an absolute minimum in delivering this exceptional assistance.

“We saw the difficulties cattle farmers faced when trying to meet overly complex conditions in the BEAM program,” he said.

“However, the pig farmers’ subsidy payments have had little or no strings attached and this must be the model chosen for any future exceptional subsidy payments.

“Additional funding also needs to go into the Sheep Improvement Scheme so that the proposed payment can be increased to €35/hd per breeding sheep; €12/h is too low and will not have a significant impact when it comes to keeping sheep farmers profitable.”

Mr McNamara added that some of the problems are related to New Zealand lamb imports, which are in some ways an old Brexit issue, and he suggested the Brexit adjustment reserve for the sector should be tapped.

And he repeated his call for the Sheep Vision Group to be convened immediately.

“There is a crisis in the sheep sector that needs to be addressed,” he said. “Minister McConalogue can do his part by facilitating an exceptional aid payment and improving the sheep improvement scheme, but we also need to see action from the meat industry, from retailers and from Bord Bia.

“The Sheep Vision Group is the forum to address all issues in the sector – we need to make it work.”