The Government's commitment to the future of agriculture was emphasised yesterday by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, as the week-long IFA protest began.
In a statement, the Minister said the Government's approach had been founded on the unique importance of the sector in terms of sustaining rural Ireland, and as our major natural-resource-based industry.
The commitment to farming had been demonstrated in a concrete fashion time and again, Mr Walsh said. Examples in recent years included: "The mobilisation of the entire resources of the State to fight the foot-and-mouth disease threat, which could have devastated Irish agriculture.
"The immediate operation of the purchase for destruction market support scheme to support the beef sector and producer prices during the BSE crisis.
"The continuing hands-on approach to reopening of markets for agricultural produce, involving the full deployment of political, diplomatic and technical resources."
He said the development, at considerable expense to the taxpayer, of traceability systems for cattle, sheep and pigs had been implemented to enable the sector to meet consumer concerns and provide an edge in increasingly competitive markets.
The Government had developed one of the most efficient systems in the EU for direct-income payments to farmers, with the vast bulk of cheques now issuing on the first day allowed by EU regulations.
Mr Walsh added that he had negotiated, against the odds, a most favourable outcome for Irish farmers in the Agenda 2000 CAP reforms and had copper-fastened those gains in the recent Brussels summit on the future financing of CAP.
Mr Walsh added that €2.8 billion in public expenditure had been provided for 2003 and farmers will receive €1.6 billion in direct payments. He said other supports included substantial Exchequer resources to control animal disease, funds for the Rural Environment Protection Scheme and the early-retirement scheme.
Mr Walsh said he would continue to ensure the optimal framework for the development of agriculture and, with almost 70 per cent of income guaranteed by way of direct payments, both farmers and processors had to shoulder their responsibility to maximise the returns from the market-place.