How does a single issue drive a group of farmers to form a new organisation? The group that evolved around the commonage GLAS issue over the summer and autumn now are to set up a new farm organisation. How has it come to this?
The Irish Farmers Journal has been closely covering this issue since the GLAS proposals were first announced. The requirement for a collective agreement as the objective criterion for GLAS entry on commonage land was contentious from the start.
Opposition
Hill farmers in the west were vociferously opposed, labelling the proposal unworkable. IFA had reduced the proportion of active commonage shareholders required to enter such an agreement from 80% to 50%, and had verbal assurances from Minister Coveney that no farmer would be excluded. Despite this progress, western hill farmers were deeply unhappy; felt that their perspective was not presented forcefully enough in engagement with the Department, and said IFA should have opposed the submission of a Rural development Programme that carried this GLAS proposal.
Protest
The issue rumbled on all summer, with a reported 1,600 farmers attending the initial Hill Farmers For Action meeting in Westport in August. A picket was put on Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s office, and then later a large farmer march to his Castlebar office. It has not proven possible to reconcile the IFA and Hill Farmers for Action in the intervening time. Now comes this announcement of a new, as yet unnamed organisation, led by Colm O’Donnell and Brendan Joyce, who have resigned their IFA posts. Forty farmers attended their first organising meeting on Sunday night, and their inaugaral public meeting will be a significant moment.
Can they develop the momentum necessary? Forming a new organisation will require a massive investment of time and energy from it’s founders.
(Source – Irish Farmers Journal – Pat O Toole – 20/01/2015)
Colm O’Donnell reads aloud a letter to An Taoiseach on behalf of hill sheep farmers
New farming organisation launched – but why?
We look at some of the events that have led to the launch of the new farming group. Yesterday saw the news that a new group is being formed by ex-IFA member Colm O’Donnell.
O’Donnell resigned his positions as National Rural Development Vice Chairman and County Rural Development Chairman with the IFA last week.
Farmers interested in joining the new group met in Westport last Sunday, with an official launch expected in February.
O’Donnell said the priority of the new group is to protect farm incomes and the viability of the family farm.
A number of issues have led to the birth of this group.
Unrest amongst hill farmers in the west
Farmers in the west were unhappy with the results of CAP. Following the result, Éamon Ó Cuív hosted a round of meetings, with the Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesman claiming he could have achieved a better deal. This fed the belief that farmers in the west were hard done by. Colm O’Donnell is a sheep farmer from Sligo and is the spokesperson of Hill Farmers for Action.
IFA stance on CAP, GLAS and Rural Development
In August, the IFA was criticised for its negotiations on behalf of the hill and commonage farmers that O’Donnell was representing. The hill farmers were unhappy because they feared they would not qualify for certain CAP or GLAS payments.
Lack of collective agreement
A commonage meeting took place in Westport, Co Mayo, in the hopes of achieving a collective agreement. The meeting saw widespread anger from farmers, with O’Donnell stating that hill farmers had been “discriminated.”
“It is our basic right to get into the scheme; yet the minister chose to prioritise productive farmers,” he said at the meeting, which was attended by 1,700 farmers.
In September, hill farmers picketed the Taoiseach’s office in Castlebar, Co Mayo. Another protest by hill farmers was held in December.
(Source – Irish Farmers Journal – 20/01/2015)