The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, was accused yesterday of avoiding debate on the state of Irish farming. Speaking in Ballacolla, the Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture, Mr Alan Dukes, claimed the Minister was "making statements and running away".
Mr Walsh had structures in place to talk to the farm organisations but never brought key issues into the public domain, Mr Dukes said.
He challenged Mr Walsh to a public debate, where he could defend his running of his Department. Mr Walsh, who attended the championships earlier this week and held several media briefings, had not come to grips with the main issues facing farming, especially the most current one, inflation, Mr Dukes said.
He criticised Mr Walsh's response to the negative impact of increasing fuel prices on the sector. "The Government does not have to wait to the Budget to cut fuel excise rates. That could and should be done immediately," he said.
Mr Dukes said he was hearing nothing from the Government about the world trade talks and was concerned the EU would not stand up for its farmers. EU farmers had lost many markets in third countries to the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia in the last round of talks, he said.
Mr Dukes suggested Mr Walsh should get together with the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, to protect rural environment protection scheme (REPS) payments from being cut because of environmental bylaws being introduced by some local authorities.