IFA chief tells Laois farmers that CAP cash, Mercosur battle and Nitrates conditions are priorities

Issues surrounding the Nitrates directive, the Mercosur deal and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), topped the agenda for Damian McDonald in his guest speaker address to the Laois IFA AGM.

Speaking to a large gathering of Laois farmers at The Manor Hotel, Abbeyleix, on Monday, February 9, he also challenged the Government's handling of the Bord Bia controversy.

On Nitrates, he said the IFA led efforts to devise a unified approach involving various agencies and other farm organisations in the campaign to retain the derogation. This process also involved getting the backing of the big political parties ahead of the last General Election, which in turn saw retention included in the Programme for Government.

While the campaign was a success, there are new conditions.

“There is a new part around this involving the Habitats Directive and the need to comply with that. When we applied for all the previous derogations, we did a national appropriate assessment, which is the test to comply with the Habitats Directive,” he said.

He said that following the fifth nitrates directive, An Taisce took judicial review to have the Nitrates Action Programme submitted by Ireland to the EU set aside, including the derogation. This is ongoing with the IFA, a party to the proceedings which have been referred on to the European Court of Justice.

“One of their main points was that doing a national Appropriate Assessment for all the Derogation farms was not sufficient. They wanted a more granular version either at cathcment, sub- catchement or at the farm level.

“That would mean that every farmer who is getting a Derogation would have to do an Appropriate Assessment,” he said.
Mr McDonald said anyone involved in forestry will know what is required. It is tedious, expensive and involves public consultation,” he said.

He said the public would have the right to comment on such assessments.

Mr McDonald told Laois farmers that the Irish Government has to find a way of complying with the Habitats Directive in the context of the Derogation.

“The engagement is underway as to how this will be done. The Minister has said he will pay the ecologists but it is unclear as to how workable this is going to be on farms,” he said.

He said the European Court of Justice is likely to rule by May, and there is a concern that the outcome could cause farmers a problem.

Regardless of the outcome, he said there will be engagement on how the appropriate assessment will be implemented so that farmers are complying with the Habitats Directive in line with the terms of the new Derogation.

He added that there is a growing view that the Habitats Directive is slowing down development all over Europe, so farmers may get relief if it is made less stringent.

Moving to Mercosur, he said,d the IFA has been fighting and holding back the trade deal for decades. However, he said the then EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan injected momentum into the process.

He said the deal was delayed, arising from the election of Trump ally, Jair Bolsonaro, as Brazilian President, who is now in jail. He said Mr Bolsonaro's son is contesting the next election and, if successful, could delay the deal, which could help farmers in Ireland who are opposed to the agreement. MORE BELOW PHOTO.

Pictured: Attendees at the Laois IFA AGM. Pic: Alf Harvey

He believed that the campaign against the deal could be helped by “cock-ups” in other South American countries. He explained that the Environmental chapter added to the deal is causing concern among Mercosur leaders.

While the deal is now before the European Courts of Justice, he warned that the President of the EU Commission Urusula Von der Leyen, has indicated that the agreement would be provisionally implemented once it is ratified by one of the Mercosur countries.

“That would be profoundly undemocratic and very unwise given that they still have the agreement in the European Parliament. I think if the Commission drives on would reduce the chances of it passing at the Parliament as the MEPs would rail against that,” he said.

The Director General said the “battle goes on”.

While he said some of the initial proposals around the new structure of the CAP are very concerning, his focus was on the EU spending budget, which he said is at a “crunch” point.

He warned that CAP spending has been falling as a percentage of the overall EU budget, which has been worsened by inflation.
Mr McDonald said the last CAP allocation was about 30% of the EU budget, but there are proposals to go below that in the upcoming deal. 

He added that the pressure on the overall Budget comes in the shape of pressure on the Union to spend more money on defence, which he said is also a threat to CAP. He said there is a lot of fear in parts of the EU close to Russia and such countries want the EU to do more.

The Director General said the proposal to dismantle the two-pillar approach is also making matters convoluted. He believes a proposal to divert non-ringfenced CAP money away from farming halfway through the deal is also concerning.

He expects the decisive period in concluding the EU budgetary process could coincide with the start of Ireland's EU Presidency this July.

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“We have to try and get a better budget and get a higher dedicated amount for the CAP and the retention of the two-pillar approach,” he said.

Mr McDonald concluded with remarks on IFA's campaign to have the Bord Bia Chairman removed.

Bord's strategy was to break the IFA people who are occupying the HQ in Dublin and those who have protested outside the building from all around Ireland.

He was also critical of the Minister for Agriculture's comment that he was moving on from the controversy.

“Well, he might be moving on, but we are not moving on,” he said.

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Mr McDonald said Mr Murrin had made a bad decision to stay in the post, which was compounded by the board's support for him. He said Minister Martin Heydon's backing of Mr Murrin was also a bad decision as were the endorsements given by the Taoiseach and the Government.

“Six bad decisions in a row by people who should have known better. Every time, they have been digging a deeper hole for themselves. Hopefully, sense will prevail somewhere along the line,” he said.

Mr Morrin said the IFA President Francie Gorman would not resign from the Bord.

“We are putting €6 m into Bord Bia. There are 57,000 farmers doing quality assurance audits. The IFA President is elected by 70,000 people and put on Bord Bia. We are entitled to disagree with the Chairman and express our view, and we are entitled to run a campaign in the best interests of Bord Bia,” he said.