Farmers this morning staged a protest at Government Buildings during the Cabinet meeting over the closing of the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (Reps).
The Cabinet made the decision last week to close the next round of the Reps scheme (Reps 4) to new entrants and to those completing five-year contracts.
The scheme has 62,000 members and was worth €8,550 on average to farmers. It rewarded farmers for environmentally friendly farming and resulted in payments of €3 billion.
On Saturday next the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) will hold a mass meeting outside the constituency clinic of Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith.
The Green Party was yesterday the target for the IFA, which accused it and its leader, Minister for the Environment John Gormley, of turning their backs on one of the key principles of his party by abandoning the environmental scheme at Cabinet.
“Ministers Gormley and Sargent must realise that the Reps scheme has brought about significant environmental benefits to Ireland, which can be seen throughout the country,” said IFA president Padraig Walshe.