Hill farmers to picket Kenny’s constituency office

Hill farmers to picket Kenny’s office


Anton McNulty

DISGRUNTLED hill farmers are to picket the constituency office of An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny this week and have vowed to continue the picket until Christmas if necessary.
The picket of the constituency office on Tucker Street in Castlebar is due to begin tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11am by hill farmers who are not pleased with the political reaction since the public meeting in Westport which was attended by 1,700 farmers.
The hill farmers are demanding changes to the GLAS proposals and in particular the scrapping of the collective agreement criteria which farmers say will block commonage farmers from qualifying for the scheme.
Brendan Joyce of the Concerned Hill Farmer Action Group, who are organising the picket, told The Mayo News that the deadline for changing the GLAS proposals was approaching and they wanted action from their politicians.
“At the meeting in Westport we said we would give them a week to see if there will be any movement but unfortunately the issue has not been addressed. We have already protested outside the Department of Agriculture and at this stage it is up to the Taoiseach and all the TDs to put the pressure on and for them to see the light that what is proposed is not workable,” he explained.
Mr Joyce, a Connemara farmer, said the issue was not confined to Mayo or Galway but was affecting farmers along the west coast and they were getting a lot of support from around the country. He said a meeting similar to the one held in Westport is organised for Letterkenny on Friday and they will continue to put pressure on all politicians to make the changes.

Upping the ante
He said the future of hill farming was at stake and that is why they are upping the ante by calling for the picket.
“Already we have 30 captains in place with a team of between 20 and 30 under them and we will be there until Christmas if needs be. This is critical for farm families. The next six or seven years will depend on the next six or seven weeks. We are not asking for a lot. At the end of the day two amendments [to the proposal] and the job is done. The solution is there, it is not a question of this not being doable, it is doable,” he stressed.
The draft proposal for the GLAS scheme, which included the collective criteria, was sent to Brussels in July for approval and are expected to be ratified or sent back to the government for changes to be made by the end of September.
The other concerns among commonage farmers is the criteria that all hill farmers must have a farm plan outlined by a planner to avail of single farm payments and were the only farming sector who require that.