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You are > Home > Farmers furious over seat transfer to Birdwatch Ireland
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Farmers furious over seat transfer to Birdwatch Ireland
ABSOLUTE FURY is being expressed by Roscommon farmers at the Government decision to ‘pull’ the ICMSA seat on the European Economic and Social Council and hand it over at the behest of Minister Gormley and the Green Party to a lady representative from Birdwatch Ireland.
The news, widely reported upon and criticised in the national media, means that Ireland’s specialist dairy farmers, usually described as ‘the jewel in the crown’ of Irish agriculture, no longer have dedicated representation at this vital European forum. A development that the President of ICMSA, Jackie Cahill, has described as “so bizarre as to defy analysis or comment” and “a national scandal”.
The Farming Pillar has had two seats at the European Economic and Social Council. Since 1973 one of those seats has been held by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers (ICMSA) an 18,000-strong farm organisation that particularly represents dairy farmers where IFA would, for example, be more concentrated in the mixed, sheep and beef sectors. As the name of the council implies EESC is a forum primarily for economic and social sectors from the various member states to discuss common problems and submit recommendations to the Commission. It’s a reputable body, established by the EU Treaty, and the last ICMSA representative on the EESC was Frank Allen, whose work was widely commended and reported on all over the EU. Mr Allen went forward again to be the ICMSA nominee but he was defeated by Pat O’Rourke. The morning of the vote the Department of the Taoiseach confirmed that there would no longer be two seats at the EESC for the farming pillar. One seat would be kept for the IFA, but the other seat the dairy farmers’ seat was to be reallocated to.... Birdwatch Ireland. The Chairman of Roscommon ICMSA, Tommy Cooney, said the reaction from every farmer would be astonishment and absolute fury.
“We are now left with a situation where the only sector in Ireland that has the potential to build the exports that every economist agrees are the sole hope for the rebuilding of out economy is unceremoniously dumped off a vital EU economic forum and replaced at the behest of Minister Gormleys and the Greens with an organisations that represents bird watchers,” said the Ballintubber farmer.
Asked to elaborate, the ICMSA man said there were a number of points worth making.
“It is by now already established that the Greens have a uniquely dismissive opinion of rural Ireland and the role it serves. Whatever about double inspections of breeding bitches and the Ward Union, is it really wise to take out an expert dairy representative from the EESC and replace that voice with Birdwatch Ireland? Is that in the national interest?
Will economic recovery be helped more by the presence of a representative of the Irish dairy sector the biggest indigenous exporter we have or a representative of Ireland’s bird watching community?”
“Who, exactly, do Bird Watch Ireland represent and what is their capacity for economic and social research and analysis?” asked Mr Cooney.
“Where, exactly, were Bird Watch Ireland when ICMSA alone amongst the farming organisations met the Taoiseach and publicly endorsed a ‘Yes’ vote in advance of Lisbon 1? We know that they directly supported a case taken against the Irish Government in the ECJ in 2007? But have they ever demonstrated the slightest interest in the broader questions around European integration and social cohesion?
We never hear the end about the loyalty that certain people in Government value so highly: why don’t we ever see them showing some loyalty to the people who came in on their side a very unpopular side at the time and took the knocks for their trouble?” he continued.
“The farmers of Roscommon will see that this stinks. Certain elements within the Government most notably those elements around Minister Gormley seem intent on riding roughshod over those parts of Irish rural society judged not to be Green supporters even if that goes against the interests of the country. Maybe we’ve no right to expect the Greens to support the Irish dairy sector, but we should be able to rely on others to find the courage to stand up for their constituencies and the one sector we have that potentially can re-energise the economy? When is someone in Government going to say ‘enough is enough’ and call Minister Gormley’s bluff?”
Mr Cooney said that the dropping of the ICMSA seat and the insertion of Bird Watch Ireland was an act of shameless patronage and manifestly against the national interest.
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