Proposals for major Government cuts contained in the McCarthy report will decimate rural life, farmers claimed today.
Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Padraig Walshe attacked the Government's record on rural issues at a major protest rally in Cavan town, where over 5,000 demonstrators protested outside the offices of Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith.
Mr Walshe claimed the cuts proposed by An Bord Snip Nua were the product of a mindset more used to the needs of affluent Dublin suburbs than the realities of life in rural Ireland.
The report, compiled by the group chaired by economist Colm McCarthy, has identified €5.3 billion of savings and urged 17,300 public sector lay-offs.
"There is an income crisis in agriculture, with incomes down 30 per cent in two years and, when the sector needs support more than ever, the Government has come with cutback after cutback," said the IFA president. "The Government is now hiding behind the McCarthy report and planning further cuts on the back of An Bord Snip.
"They are targeting farmers in the disadvantaged areas yet again. They want to finish off the Suckler Scheme. They want to increase disease levies and cut reactor compensation."
He said the McCarthy report was "barefaced in its attack on rural Ireland - closing small schools, cutting school transport, closing Garda stations and abolishing the Rural Transport Scheme, as well as cutting services to farmers in Teagasc and Bord Bia".
Mr Walshe strongly attacked the Bord Snip report, saying it represents "Dublin 4 economics" and "cuts the life out of" rural Ireland.
"One in four of all jobs outside Dublin depend on farming. If you cut agriculture, you attack rural Ireland and cut rural jobs," he said. "You cut the productive sector and damage our national prospects for economic recovery. I say to the Government: You cannot cut your way out of this recession by cutting the productive sectors of this economy, like agriculture and food.
"We must grow our way out of this mess and agriculture has a major part to play in that. Agriculture is not the problem, agriculture is part of the solution."
Mr Walshe added: "Irish farm families are not going to lie down and go away. This fight for survival is being taken to every Government minister and TD."
He urged farm families all over Ireland to play their part in what he said was a fight for survival.