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Agriculture Committee to resume discussion of fodder crisis

4 May 2018, 10:05

The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine will meet on Tuesday, 8th of May to address the ongoing fodder crisis.

Representatives from Teagasc and the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), as well as Bank of Ireland, AIB, Ulster Bank and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) - will appear before the Committee.

Speaking today, Committee Chair, Pat Deering TD said, “In March, the Committee called the Minister for Agriculture to appear before us to discuss solutions to the fodder shortage that has hit the country since the end of last year. At that meeting, we urged the Minister to develop a comprehensive, long-term response in order to ensure that farmers are not placed in such a situation again and so that they can be assisted in emerging from the current shortage. On Tuesday, we will discuss support measures for farmers, with a particular emphasis on what measures can and should be put in place in order to ensure that farmers are appropriately supported should such an event occur again.”

“In the final part of our meeting, the Committee will focus on the subject of burnt land. Agricultural and eligible forestry land which is burnt illegally during the closed season – 1st March to 31st August - is not eligible for payment under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and other area-based schemes. Farmers make the point that excluding burnt land from the BPS places a further burden on the victims of illegal burning. There have been calls for the Minister to rescind the instruction regarding burnt land and BPS payments – the Committee will discuss the complex issues around burnt land at the meeting.”

The meeting will start at 3pm in Committee Room 1, Leinster House.

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here

 

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Nuala Walsh,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
+353 1 618 3437
+353 86 4100 898
nuala.walsh@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: @OireachtasNews

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