THE crisis in the beef industry is the most serious in Irish agriculture in many years, the IFA president, Mr John Donnelly, has said.
He claimed that at current prices farmers were losing £70 a head of cattle sold and were facing total losses this spring of £30 million.
Mr Donnelly was speaking in Dublin yesterday after a lobbying session with rural TDs and senators. About 100 Oireachtas members attended. Mr Donnelly urged IFA members to lobby all other Oireachtas members this weekend.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, was told Ireland would have to insist that export subsidies for beef be restored to previous levels. "The onus is on the Minister," Mr Donnelly said, "and he will be held responsible." Mr Raymond O'Malley, the national livestock chairman of the IFA said Mr Yates had promised hope "but not pounds, shillings and pence".
Mr Yates told the meeting he would meet the French Minister for Agriculture before a meeting on Friday week of the EU Beef Management Committee. France broadly supports Ireland's case for an increase in export refunds, the level for which is decided by the committee. The subsidy was set at 70.9p in September but reduced to 45.2p on November 18th - "a black day for Irish agriculture according to Mr Donnelly.
The refunds have been increased since then but not by enough to make the live cattle trade viable for Irish beef producers, Mr Donnelly said. They were losing valuable markets like Egypt to competitors such as Australia, he added.
Meanwhile, the agriculture development authority, Teagasc, has drawn attention to an other potential problem for farmers. Up to December 31st, national milk deliveries were 18 million gallons or 1.8 per cent over Ireland's permitted quota. This could attract the most severe EU super levy since the introduction of the quota system.