Republican News · Thursday 10 April 2003

Sinn Féin consults with farmers

On a beautiful spring evening last week, over 100 farmers and people dependent on the land came together in Newry to consult with Sinn Féin about the issues they want raised when a party delegation visits Brussels next month.

Each of the speakers at Thursday's meeting, Gerry McHugh, Conor Murphy, Martin Ferris and Pat O'Rawe, focused on the urgent need to address the problems of Irish agriculture as an all-Ireland unit, and in preparation their determination to consult with the farmers themselves, before the delegation goes.

"There is no clearer example than agriculture of the need to deal on an all-Ireland basis," said Assembly member Conor Murphy. "Margaret Beckett in London is not interested in the needs of farmers in the Six Counties. Agriculture is not important in the British economy. It represents only a tiny fraction of their GNP. But for us in Ireland, across the 32 Counties, it remains a key industry, with major growth potential."

"That's what we are going to Brussels for, and we want to hear your views on the issues, so that we can represent them to Commissioner Fischler. This is a meeting to hear what you think, what your concerns are, that we should be putting forward in Europe."

"Our problems are common across the 32 Counties," said Gerry McHugh. "Bríd Rodgers, or for that matter, successive Dublin ministers of Agriculture, have done nothing to address the problem of declining numbers on the land, declining farm incomes, the accompanying decline of rural communities.

"Neither Six- nor 26-County administrations have made any effort to negotiate our common problems, or present a 32-County case in the EU mid-term review of CAP, which is now upon us," Gerry pointed out.

"People need to come together, as a community and fight in a collective way, to ensure the common interests of farmers in Ireland are taken into account," said Martin Ferris. "Farm incomes in the Six Counties are estimated at a mere £4,600 per annum. Although average incomes in the South are reckoned at $15,000, this figure doesn't reflect average farm incomes of small farmers who are struggling to survive in the West. Small farmers cannot hope to survive on these incomes."

d ideas and statements crowded in from people at the meeting. They spoke of the need for an all-Ireland animal health policy, the scandal of low incomes and the little help provided by Social Security, where farmers were made to feel like beggars. They told of the difficulty of dealing with the increasing bureaucracy imposed by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the Ministry in Dublin, which have become policing bodies instead of institutions to help farmers develop and market our produce.

They talked of the urgent need for the promised all-Ireland disease eradication policy, and the effects of Tuberculosis and Brucellosis on farm incomes. It was a litany of anger and frustration.

Cllr Pat O'Rawe spoke articulately on the effects of these policies on rural communities. "In rural areas - we have inequality - no access to the very services which others take for granted on a daily basis - everyday services like doctor, dentist, post office, chemist, supermarket, employment, hospital, school, childcare facilities, leisure facilities, bank - the list is endless.

"What we want in our communities," she went on, "is equality - equality of access to everyday services. We want a 32-County strategy to take account of the needs of women in rural development, and which makes provision for childcare and adequate transport so women can access services, training and employment."

The consultation meeting last Thursday is one of several that Sinn Féin will hold in rural communities along the border corridor to consult with farmers.

Next month's Sinn Féin delegation to Brussels, to include Pat Doherty, Mitchel McLaughlin, Martin Ferris and Gerry McHugh, will take the campaign for the farmers and for rural development on an all-Ireland basis to Europe.