FARM ORGANISATIONS have called for the implementation of proposals in a report on the future of EU sheep farming which was ratified by the European Parliament last week.
Compiled for the parliament by Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Aylward, the report recommended the introduction of an environmental sheep maintenance scheme under which farmers would receive a payment per ewe which would be co-financed by member states and the EU. It also recommended additional payments for traditional mountain sheep breeds, the labelling of sheepmeat with an EU logo and a streamlining of both production and processing.
The report, which also received the unanimous backing of the powerful agriculture committee, called for a review of the introduction of compulsory electronic tagging of sheep which is due to come into operation next year.
The parliament backed a recommendation that because of the difficulty in implementing the system, the high cost involved and unproven benefits, each member state should be allowed the discretion to decide whether or not to introduce it on a voluntary basis.
It also backed the recommendation that money from the current EU food promotion budget of €45 million be ring-fenced for sheepmeat promotion.
President of the Irish Farmers Association Pádraig Walshe said the future of the sector was dependent on factories returning a viable lamb price and the Government delivering on its commitments to the sector.
He said the sheep sector was worth € 400 million annually to the Irish economy, with 34,000 farmers producing three million sheep for export, but it now needs Government assistance.
He said the Aylward report had recommended a new sheep maintenance payment to recognise the positive environmental attributes associated with sheep production and that should be acted upon.
Ireland East MEP Maireád Mc Guinness said the Aylward report must not meet the same fate as the Malone report on the sheep industry in Ireland which was now gathering dust. No action was being taken to halt the decline of the industry, she warned.
She said breeding ewe numbers in Ireland have fallen from a peak of 4.8 million in 1992 to 2.7 million in 2008.