Farmers vent fury at ‘Minister for Spin’ Coveney

FARMING FURY?A large group of hill and commonage farmers from across the west in attendence at the meeting in Peacocke’s Hotel in Maam Cross.

Farmers vent fury at ‘Minister for Spin’ Coveney


Coveney blamed for failure to scrap collective agreement

Anton McNulty

The controversial collective-agreement criteria for joining the GLAS scheme is in the hands of the Minister of Agriculture. It is not a key requirement of the European Commission, farmers have been told.
Close to 1,000 hill farmers from across the country met in Peacocke’s Hotel in Maam Cross last Thursday night. There they heard that the ‘rug had been pulled’ from under their feet by the Department of Agriculture. They had been falsely led to believe they had an agreement to scrap collective agreement.
The previous week, a delegation of hill farmers met with the head of the Rural Development Programme, Josefine Loriz-Hoffmann and her officials from the European Commission in Brussels. The meeting was also attended by Independent MEPs, Marian Harkin and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan.

Europe says ‘option’
Addressing the Maam Cross meeting, Marian Harkin said that Ms Loriz-Hoffmann made it clear that collective agreement was not a European requirement and there was flexibility with  Minister Simon Coveney to scrap it.
“She said there is a considerable measure of flexibility within member states in the operation of the Rural Development Programme. She also said the arrangements for collective contracts are left up to member states. It is an option not a requirement. Those were her exact words,” MEP Harkin said.
“In relation to entry into GLAS she said member states should not set a rule or requirement that discourages farmers from participating in a scheme. If that message is not clear to you I don’t think anything will be.
“Those three statements she made make it very clear that the Minister [Simon Coveney] has the flexibility to sort this out in a way that will make sure you as individual farmers can access the GLAS scheme.
“The European Commission has made it clear that the ball is in our court and it is up to the Minister to find a solution,” she concluded.

Dent in the spin
The meeting was chaired by Brendan Joyce of the Hill Farmers Action Group and was also addressed by Galway West TDs, SeΡn Kyne and Éamon Ó Cuív and MEPs Ming Flanagan and Matt Carty.
Deputy Kyne was the only government TD at the meeting, while other TDs and MEPs sent their apologies for not being present.
Deputy Kyne assured the farmers he was fighting on their behalf and that he was not happy with collective agreement. He said he has spoken to Minister Coveney but admitted it was difficult when there was less than ten TDs interested in the subject and also when the IFA leadership seemed happy with the arrangement.
A statement on behalf of Minister Coveney outlining his position was read out by Deputy Kyne but it was criticised as was his failure to meeting the farmers.
“What Marian Harkin outlined puts a serious dent on the spin we have had to listen to in the papers from politicians and officials [who are] ramming it down our necks that the problem is in Brussels. The flexibility is there, in our own minister and department, to put a scheme in place that is accessible and workable for the hill and commonage farmers,” said Mr Joyce.
MEPs Matt Carthy of Sinn Féin and Ming Flanagan echoed Marian Harkin’s statements, saying that the decision-making was in the hands of the minister and his department. Matt Carty praised the farmers for continuing to stand up on the matter, and he accused the Department of Agriculture of scaremongering and pitting farmer against farmer.
Deputy Ó Cuív said that the ‘powerful forces of Irish agriculture’ were putting their hands into the pockets of small farmers, and he described Minister Coveney as ‘the Minister for Agribusiness’ who did not care about farmers. He said that although he is often critical of Europe, in this instance, the decision on collective agreement was being made in Dublin, and not in Brussels.