Farmers are to take to the streets again next week to highlight the potential damage to farming if the Agenda 2000 proposals on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy go through without amendment.
Details of the protests, which will involve farm machinery being driven into the centre of every county town and city in the Republic, were given in Dublin yesterday by the president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr Tom Parlon. The action, he said, was not meant to be disruptive, and it was intended that the protests, in at least 29 centres, would last only from 12 noon until 1.30 p.m.
Mr Parlon said that the IFA would consult local chambers of commerce to avoid what he called the "exaggerated" condemnation of the IFA march in Dublin last year.
"The object of the National Day of Action on CAP Reform II is to heighten public awareness of the threat to Irish agriculture and the entire rural economy in the Agenda 2000 negotiations", Mr Parlon said. "The emphasis will be on the damage that the Commission's CAP reform proposals would do to the economy and employment in rural Ireland and how the knock-on effect of the cuts would be felt in rural towns throughout the country."
He said that the Government accepted the IFA's estimate that the Santer proposals to reform the CAP would cut farm incomes by £260 million and take £600 million out of the agricultural economy.
"This would destroy many Irish towns, which are dependent on the spending power of the agricultural community, and I am calling on local businesses and townspeople throughout the country to show solidarity with the farming community", he said.
If the CAP reform proposals went through in their present form, 50,000 farm families would be non-viable within five years, and a further 25,000 within 10 years.
Mr Parlon was speaking at an IFA lobbying forum in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, which was attended by more than 90 members of the Oireachtas.
The attendance included two Cabinet ministers, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, and the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, yesterday issued a statement restating his and the Government's position on the Commission's proposals for CAP reform.
The proposals, in their present form, would seriously damage Irish agriculture and the Irish economy, Mr Walsh said. He emphasised that he had indicated from the outset his concerns about the effect on Irish farmers' incomes. He had taken every opportunity to put forward the Irish position on the issue and had obtained acknowledgement in the Council of Ministers of the economic importance of the beef and milk sectors in Ireland.
Mr Walsh said that pressure for stabilisation of CAP expenditure had been intensified in recent weeks by the member-states which are net contributors, particularly Germany and the Netherlands, who wanted co-financing of the CAP. This was unacceptable to Ireland.
The Minister said that he wanted the milk quota system to continue. He was seeking a lower price reduction and higher compensation level for beef, with the retention of an effective intervention system. The proposed reforms would make the sheep meat situation worse and the compensation being proposed for the 20 per cent price cut in arable crop supports was inadequate.
Mr Walsh said that he had been attempting to develop solid alliances on important issues for the forthcoming negotiations. One of his major tasks over the coming weeks would be to maximise the value of these alliances to help bring about a balanced and equitable agreement.
It is understood that proposals on what the Commission calls "degressivity" on CAP reform payments, which would involve reducing supports in line with increased productivity, are to be presented to the meeting of farm ministers on February 22nd, when an attempt will be made to finalise a package suitable to all member-states.