IFA PRESIDENT Pádraig Walshe told a rally of 7,500 farmers in Ennis, Co Clare, yesterday that Government budget cuts in farming "are hitting the small people in the west of Ireland".
"Everybody accepts there had to be cuts, but the way the Government hit farmers in the disadvantaged areas is totally unacceptable."
In the latest in a series of IFA rallies protesting at the cuts, Mr Walshe said: "The Government's cutbacks in the disadvantaged areas and 'suckler welfare schemes' will take €20 million per year out of this region alone. That's €20 million out of your pockets.
"The Government promised they would protect the vulnerable sectors in society. But the reality is different." Mr Walshe added: "Disadvantaged area payments are a vital farm support, designed to help low-income farmers on marginal land. There was no justification for the disadvantaged area cuts. I'm saying today they must be reversed."
Farmers came with banners yesterday from Mayo, Cork, Leitrim, Galway, Roscommon, Tipperary, Limerick, Kerry and Wexford, and were led to O'Connell Square from Ennis Mart by a lone piper from the Tulla Pipe Band who was trailed by 17 large tractors slowly edging their way through Ennis's medieval streets.
The colourful marchers were laden down with banners and placards, including one with the barb "Hair cut for Harney, Headage Cuts for Farmers". All tractors were banished from the square as the speeches got under way except for a trailer that contained a suckler cow with "Poor Cow" written on the back.
Mr Walshe reminded farmers that he was standing in the same square in which Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell and Éamon de Valera had made addresses in previous struggles. "The IFA has held 20 public meetings up and down the country. Already, over 20,000 farmers have come out to protest against the Government cuts."
To loud cheers, he said: "The IFA's campaign is building. We have the support on the ground. Let the Government be warned."
The chairman of Clare IFA, Michael Lynch, said: "We here in Clare have difficult land, difficult terrain yet the Government in its attack took the easy options and struck at the poorer region."
A spokeswoman for Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said last night the Minister didn't accept the claims being made about the effects of the budget.
She said that for two-thirds of recipients of the disadvantaged area payment, there would be no reduction in payment. "Given the contribution of the disadvantaged area payment to the overall farm income, the targeted reduction in the budget is aimed at those with larger farms and could not have the effect being referred to by some commentators."
