THE IRISH Farmers Association (IFA) is to support a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
Its 53-member executive council unanimously decided to back Lisbon yesterday but it will continue its actions against proposed cuts in agriculture.
Its president, Padraig Walshe, said he was happy to say there was 100 per cent support for the stance and no one person had spoken against it. He confirmed the organisation would campaign for a Yes vote.
“There was a realisation of the huge problems facing us from Department of Agriculture cuts and the proposed cuts in ‘An Bord Snip’ but council was adamant that we have to separate the two issues,” he told a press conference.
“One is the Irish Government making decisions and the other is the EU,” he said.
There had been a major realisation in the last nine months that if farmers had to rely on Dublin for income supports “it would not be so rosy”. There were also major decisions to be taken at EU level on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013.
“We will visibly be supporting the Yes vote because we have more to lose than any other sector if we do not get a Yes vote on Lisbon. We will campaign within the organisation and at major events like the ploughing championships,” he said.
There had been a major change in farming and the rest of society since the last referendum, there was an entirely different economy and less confidence that we can get on without Europe, he said.
“I think there is more of a realisation around what Europe does really mean. What interest rates would we have currently if we were not part of Europe? What will a No vote do for Government borrowings?” he asked.
“The rates that farmers can borrow money at are a crucial cost on our business. We are huge users of credit and if we can get it at favourable rates it makes an awful lot of difference to us.”
He said he believed there was a greater realisation of the importance of Europe now than last year but he had been told by farmers who had voted Yes the last time they would vote No this time and vice versa.
“I am appealing to farmers not to use Lisbon as a protest vote against the Government. They had that opportunity last June and they will have opportunities in the future to do the same. I appeal to people to separate the issues,” he said.
Attacking the Government cutbacks, he said he believed proposed cuts in the McCarthy report had been put forward by civil servants in the Department of Agriculture.
While farm schemes were being cut, there was no hint of cuts to the bureaucracy.
Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith “warmly welcomed” the unanimous decision of the council.