FARM leaders have been accused of adopting a "cute hoor approach" to tax issues by the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter Cassells.
Mr Cassells was responding yesterday to a speech by the president of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), Mr John Donnelly on Tuesday. Mr Donnelly said trade unions and politicians were dishonest when they expressed concern about unemployment. It was rampant increases in public spending and taxation which caused unemployment.
Mr Cassells accepted that tax levels were too high and said that the reason PAYE workers were paying so much was that "other groups refuse to pay their fair share. Every report, study and analysis of our tax system shows that farmers are the worst offenders.
"Yet Irish farmers benefit enormously from the public purse through grants, subsidies and headage payments, which are paid for by the taxpayers of Ireland and the EU. Mr Donnelly is neither helping the people he represents nor fooling the public by dressing up naked self interest in the clothes of social concern.
"Congress, along with other groups, has worked hard to develop a consensus approach to tackling our social and economic problems," while the IFA approach "can be summarised as, take from the State as much as you can and give back as little as you can get away with."
Mr Cassells said that Mr Donnelly should think again before embarking "on the revival of a policy which has isolated farmers' organisations in the past".
Later, the IFA president rejected Mr Cassells' comments as unwarranted.