Frustration among farmers with the current government is high, Sinn Féin Chairwoman Mary Lou McDonald told a packed hall at the ICMSA Annual General Meeting in Limerick yesterday.
Sinn Féin believes the government has often underestimated and undervalued farmers,” she said.
Her party, she said, is not there to “babble”, but to say that farmers are listened to by her party and have a say in the future of the sector.
She also said not enough is being done to nurture young people and women in the industry.
“The number of farmers is steadily decreasing; the age profile of farmers is increasing; Not enough is being done to attract young people and women to the sector and there is not enough recognition of the existing contribution of women to farms.”
Her comments were echoed by ICMSA President Pat McCormack, who said the greatest encouragement of all was that young farmers were being rewarded financially for their work and that the bureaucracy of farming was not unbearable.
“The message being sent by Government and being received loud and clear by Irish agriculture is that far from being an economic and social good for our country, we are a problem,” he said. “Our industry is a problem and a problem that also needs to be ‘solved’.”
https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/news/well-cut-the-waffle-mcdonald-tells-icmsa-42197174.html We’re going to cut the “waffle,” McDonald tells ICMSA
