Outgoing president:Padraig Walshe at IFA annual general meeting
IF SEÁN FitzPatrick of Anglo Irish Bank had been subject to a quarter of the regulations foisted on farmers, the scandals of hidden directors loans and reckless lending would not have happened, the IFA president said yesterday.
Pádraig Walshe, the outgoing Irish Farmers Association president, told the agm of the organisation that bureaucracy had gone over the top in agriculuture and was costing both the exchequer and the farming community money it could not afford when what was needed was cost-cutting.
In his wide-ranging final presidential address, Mr Walshe concentrated mainly on the economy and called for a 20 per cent reduction in costs, including minimum wage costs, to make Ireland competitive.
He said the best instance of the need to cut costs was to be seen in north County Dublin where Tesco sources its fresh vegetables from the Dublin/Meath Growers Association at Kilshae Cross where the minimum wage was €8.65 an hour.
He said Tesco also sourced produce in Armagh where the minimum wage was €6.90 an hour, 40 per cent less than here.
As a result Tesco said it was reviewing its contract and up to 70 jobs were now on the line in north County Dublin.
Pádraig Walshe called for a 20 per cent reduction in costs, including pay, and said this should apply to the public sector, the co-operatives, the plcs and across the economy generally.
“The Government must cut its costs. Unless wages are cut, the country will fall back to where we were in the 1980s with high unemployment, high emigration and uncontrolled government debt bankrupting the country,” he said.
Mr Walshe also criticised the performance of the Energy Regulator.
Electricity prices had increased by 17.5 per cent last year and now oil prices had fallen, but electricity prices had not decreased by the same amount, Mr Walshe said.
He said farmers should not be penalised by increased water charges and other taxes and he demanded the Minister for Agriculture pay money due to farmers for work carried out under the Farm Waste Management scheme.
On the Lisbon Treaty, Mr Walshe said he was of the opinion the farmer vote on Lisbon had not changed.
Most had voted Yes and he thought when the national executive meets before the autumn referendum, that position would not change.
The election to replace Mr Walshe takes place this autumn.