Political row over hill farmer support

SINN Féin and Fianna Fáil were at loggerheads in Leinster House last week after the former party of Government failed to back a motion brought by Sinn Féin in support of hill farmers.

Sinn Féin Kerry TD Martin Ferris hit out at Fianna Fáil saying they ‘sided with their Fine Gael partners’ to ‘relent’ on what he said was a previously stated position of the party.

Fianna Fáil hit back by saying Sinn Féin had ‘misrepresented’ Fianna Fáil’s position, accusing the party of ‘dishonesty’. The row was sparked following a SF motion to improve the terms of Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme for hill farmers which was defeated in the Seanad.

“As a TD for a rural county like Kerry I am well aware of the difficulties that our hill farmers face and our Seanad motion called on the Government to retain mountain sheep grazing as a separate category after the review of the ANC Scheme. It also called for payments to reflect the multiple bio-physical and specific constraints experienced by farmers who farm mountain type land, and for those payments to be set at similar rates to the current offshore islands rate,” Deputy Ferris stated.

“We also want to see the new ANC areas to be published in time to have a proper consultation before they are sent in draft to the EU.T his motion is based on months of cooperation and interaction with the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association. It should not have come as a surprise to anyone or any group. I am told Fianna Fáil attended many of these sessions and privately expressed support for these very measures. However when it came to solid action to help farmers, Fianna Fáil sided with their Fine Gael partners and relented on their previously stated position. It is another u turn in a long list of u turns from Fianna Fáil.”

Fianna Fáil Ag spokesperson Charlie McConalogue said Sinn Féin had pulled a ’stunt’ in the way the motion was put forward: “This is a characteristic Sinn Féin stunt and displays the utter cynicism of the organisation. In a cheap political stroke, Senator MacLochlainn moved an amendment that the motion be taken without debate in the full knowledge that the Oireachtas Agriculture committee was sitting at the same time, and thereby preventing party spokespeople from speaking on the issue in the Seanad... Let there be no doubt, Fianna Fáil stands fully behind hill farmers and those involved in hill farming know that...Sinn Féin prioritises stunts over discussing the substance of issues.”