MEP on Offaly visit says EU must rebuild trust with farmers

THE European Union must improve its consultation with farmers to rebuild trust with the agri sector, a member of the European Parliament said in Tullamore this evening (Monday, May 19).

Maria Walsh, a Fine Gael MEP for the Midlands-North West constituency, was speaking during a visit to Tullamore mart.

Ms Walsh, who is in her second term in the parliament, said she agreed with many of the criticisms Irish farmers had of the EU in the run-up to the last election in 2024.

The Mayo woman said Ireland's current derogation from the nitrates directive, which restricts the use of fertilisers on land, must be retained.

She said it was difficult for farmers when they saw how the EU had “changed the goalposts” on the direction of travel for agriculture in the next decade.

“We need to find that balance. But most importantly we need to rebuild trust within the farming community,” she said.

She rejected the “narrative” from the EU Commission which pinned much of the blame for the climate crisis on farmers.

“That couldn't be further from the truth. Actually they're the main drivers of sustainability.”

Ms Walsh was accompanied on her visit to Tullamore by the Fine Gael TD for Offaly, John Clendennen.

Deputy Clendennen agreed that the EU needed to work harder in listening to the farming community.

“We need to ensure that we're working with farmers. And that is probably where we lost our way a bit, whether it was at European level or at national level. But I think there is a renewed focus now to ensure that whatever we're bringing forward, that it has a level of consultation and there has been a level of debate and we're doing something pragmatic about it,” said Deputy Clendennen.

Ms Walsh said she would also be pushing at EU level for further efforts to eradicate TB from the island of Ireland, especially in the context of 17 of the 27 member states now being TB-free.

Another priority for Ms Walsh is a reduction of the remaining barriers to trade across the EU.

Even with the existence of the single market, new enterprises in Ireland can find it difficult to break into a market of 450 million people, and whose population will expand when the EU enlarges further with the admission of other countries.

She said the EU needs to find ways to make it easier for those businesses to export. “We need to support them going into the 27 member states and those [states] in the enlargement process. And not have language or national law or nationalistic viewpoints deterring them from growing their business.”

The MEP welcomed the deal agreed between the EU and the United Kingdom, especially the agri-food element which will establish a UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Zone which aims to remove some of the existing red tape around trade.

One farmer who spoke to Ms Walsh in Tullamore mentioned the issue of a young entrant to agriculture obtaining a herd number.

The MEP said the existing regime in the EU on farm succession is built around a holding being handed on to the farmer's child.

That must now change because “in actual fact you have more and more nephews coming on stream”.

“We need younger people to be attracted to the career and there's a lot of things we need to fix at EU level to do that. But it's not just about a blank cheque in making that work, we really have to build from the ground up,” she said.

Ms Walsh said the issue of generational renewal was not confined to farming but had also emerged as an issue in the road haulage business.

The EU will have to find ways of making truck driving an attractive career, especially in Ireland, an island nation.

“There are fewer drivers coming through. It's across the EU, not just a national issue.”

Earlier in the day Ms Walsh and Deputy Clendennen visited Birr Community School and the TD said he was encouraged by the success of students there in the national Certified Angus Beef competition.

Deputy Clendennen also noted the initiative of the Laois & Offaly Education and Training Board in establishing the Intro to Ag course to facilitate education and training.

Today the MEP and TD also visited one of Offaly's key agri-food manufacturers, Glenisk, and Deputy Clendennen praised the organic dairy company, which employs 75 people directly, for its continuing work.