Midland Farmer - Spring 2024

10 MIDLAND FARMER
Spring 2024
ICMSA set out “essentials” for
independence of Agriculture
Appeals Review Panel
Speaking in advance of addressing
the Joint Committee for
Agriculture, Food and Marine
on the draft Bill to establish the
Review Panel for Agriculture
Appeals, ICMSA President Denis
Drennan said that the independence
of the Review Panel will
be essential and that certain conditions
were necessary if that
independence was to be recognised
and unquestioned.
“Every year, ICMSA deals with
members who have sanctions
imposed on them under various
Department of Agriculture, Food
& Marine schemes and who appeal
the decision. This is a hugely
stressful process for many farmers
with the loss of income amongst
other issues and, in the context of
the amendment being proposed, it
is just essential that farmers have
confidence in the new system and
that the decisions taken are fair
and reasonable. And to that end,
ICMSA believes that several specific
measures would greatly help
instil that farmer confidence in
the new regime,” said Mr Drennan.
ICMSA believes it is essential
that there is adequate farmer representation
on the Review Panel.
Under the proposed legislation,
the Minister appoints members of
the Review Panel, but there is no
specific reference to farm representation
on the panel. There are
a number of precedents in relation
to farmer representation on
review panels that have operated
fairly and reasonably. It is simply
essential that there is farmer representation
on this critical Review
Panel.
The Review Panel should have
the power to set its own regulations
while obviously respecting
national and EU laws. Under the
draft Bill, the Minister may set
down regulations and ICMSA considers
this to be a retrograde step.
If the Review Panel is to be independent,
it should have the power
to set down its own rules and procedures
and not be dictated to by
the Minister of the day.
The Review Panel should have
the power to elect its own Deputy
Chairperson and not by Ministerial
appointment, as proposed in
the draft legislation. A six-month
timeframe for a decision on an
appeal should be set down in the
legislation.
“At a time when farmers need to
feel confidence that agricultural
appeals will be heard fairly and
relatively promptly, we urge the
Minister and the Department to
take on board these proposals and
thus set out the independence of
the Review panel in a way that is
incontrovertible. We badly need to
rebuild farmer confidence in the
whole system of Government
interaction with farmers from its
present unsustainably low level,”
said the ICMSA President.
New suckler scheme expected
to be rolled-out in July
A reformed suckler
scheme which is expected
to have no upper limit on
the number of weanlings/herd
that will be eligible
for payment is
expected to be rolled out
this July.
The scheme will offer suckler
farmers a payment of
€50/weanling and the new
scheme – which is still at the
negotiation stage and has yet
to be given a title – will
replace the National Beef
Welfare Scheme (NBWS).
The NBWS was rolled out
last year but had an upper
limit of 40 calves.
Testing for the presence of
infectious bovine rhinotracheitis
(IBR) in herds was
one of the measures in the
previous NBWS, however
this measure is expected to
be scrapped for the new
€50/cow scheme this year.
The scheme is expected to
be available for all sucklerbred
calves born between 1
July, 2023 and 30 June, 2024.
Under the scheme, it is
envisaged that a payment of
€35/eligible calf will be
available for a meal feeding
measure, and an additional
€15/eligible calf will be
available for a vaccination
measure.
As well as the €50/weanling
payment, an optional
add-on of €400/herd is
expected to be offered to
assist suckler farmers in
developing herd health
plans. Before the details of
the new scheme can be
finalised, it will have to be
approved by the Department
of Public Expenditure and
Reform.
Over €14.2 million was paid
to the 15,834 suckler farmers
who participated in the
NBWS in 2023.While any
details of financial support
will be positive news for
farmers, the huge decline in
the number of suckler-bred
calves born in Ireland
appears to be continuing.
According to the Irish Cattle
Breeding Federation
(ICBF), the number of suckler
bred calves registered in
2023 fell by over 60,000 head.
As of Friday, December 29,
2023, just over 754,600 suckler
bred calves had been registered
compared to just
under 815,000 head registered
in 2022.
A similar trend of declining
registrations of suckler
bred calves has also been
seen in the opening few
weeks of this year.
Tom Darcy's
Gala & Tyre
Centre
Daingean
057 9353 048 / 53666
087 251 9361
087 9586 059
darcytyres@gmail.com
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