The Irish Farmers' Association has said the Government could not afford to pay the Benchmarking Body's recommendations which would bring about an overall average increase of 8.9 per cent in public-sector pay.
"The Benchmarking Body's recommendations represent an unjustified transfer of income to the sheltered public sector from the exposed traded sector, and will result in increased inflation, reduced economic growth and increased unemployment," the IFA president, Mr John Dillon, said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of his organisation's pre-Budget submission, Mr Dillon said IFA fully supported the IBEC call to hold taxes and cut back public spending. Farmers' incomes, he said, were far below that of public and other private-sector workers.
"The full-year cost of implementing the Benchmarking Body's recommendations will be in the order of €2.1 billion per year, increasing to €3.3 billion by year five. The impact of these colossal sums being haemorrhaged from the public purse, without any clearly established benefits in terms of modernisation and change, will be very damaging to the Irish economy," he said.
The IFA's general secretary, Mr Michael Berkery, said the payment of the benchmarking awards was as much a political as an economic decision, but payment would be at the cost of services such as health and education.
The IFA warned the Government it must honour the commitments made in the National Development Plan to agriculture or there would be trouble.
"Of the €2,409 million allocated to the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS), farm waste management and dairy hygiene schemes in the National Development Plan, just €622 million, or 26 per cent, will be spent up to the end of 2002, three years into the seven year NDP. There will be serious confrontation with Government if there is any attempt to divert money from these schemes", Mr Dillon said.
He added there had been serious delays in implementing the environmental schemes and only 36,000 farmers were participating in REPS, just over half of what the Government had initially anticipated.
Key demands being sought in the Budget included tax incentives for farmers under 55 leasing land to tillage farmers and the renewal of stamp duty relief and stock relief and Government action on personal pensions for spouses of workers and the self-employed.
Mr Dillon rejected any suggestion that the farming sector had been treated better than any other sector of the community.