Up to 15,000 farmers took part in demonstrations in 28 towns and cities throughout the State yesterday to protest at the proposed reforms to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
This was less than half the number who attended the massive farmers' rally in Dublin last October. However, an Irish Farmers' Association spokesman insisted yesterday that the protest "was not about numbers" and its timing - between noon and 2 p.m. - had been chosen to cause minimum disruption.
The IFA president, Mr Tom Parlon, told the 500-strong attendance in Tullamore, Co Offaly, that the EU Commission's reform proposals would cause unacceptable damage to Irish farming and the wider economy. He claimed that the proposals, to be debated by EU farm ministers next week, would reduce farm incomes here by £260 million and take £600 million out of the rural economy.
"Fifty thousand farmers would be made non-viable within five years, with 20,000 non-farm jobs being lost in towns and cities throughout the country."
Mr Parlon said the basic demand of Irish farmers was for product prices to cover the cost of production on "good efficient family farms", whereas Agriculture Commissioner Mr Franz Fischler wanted to cut prices to 30 per cent below the cost of production. "This would inevitably force out family farms and drive us down the American route to ranch-scale factory farming," he said.
Attendances varied, with 500 or more farmers turning out in centres including Galway, Dungarvan and Clonakilty, the home town of the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh.
In other towns, including Sligo, the turn-out was as low as 50, but the IFA spokesman said the idea was to bring farm machinery through the towns in question, and the attendances should be measured on that basis. "Obviously we couldn't expect a guy to bring his tractor 40 miles to the nearest demonstration," he said.
Earlier, Mr Walsh met leaders of the main farm bodies - the IFA, the ICMSA, Macra na Feirme and the ICOS - and brought them up to date on discussions between the Government, the Commission and the German presidency of the EU on the proposed reforms.
A spokesman for the Minister said he had made it clear that he would "not be bounced into any agreement".
The ICMSA president, Mr Frank Allen, said he "fully supported" the Minister's approach to next week's negotiations, apart from the "degressivity" proposals which would result in cuts in direct aid to farmers. The ICOS said following the meeting that the competitiveness of farmers and their co-ops would be weakened considerably if the reform proposals were adopted.
In the Dail, the Fine Gael agriculture spokesman, Mr Paul Connaughton, said Ireland would have to use its political and diplomatic skills "like never before" to convince bigger powers in the EU that Irish agriculture had unique problems.
