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Aylward’s sheep report welcome PDF Print E-mail
Written by Donald Cronin   
Monday, 05 May 2008
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IFA National Sheep Chairman, Mr Henry Burns today welcomed the first hearing of Liam Aylward’s sheep report in the European Parliament. Mr Burns said the report on the future of the sheep sector has recommended the introduction of a much needed new sheep maintenance payment per ewe.
Mr Burns said Liam Aylward makes it very clear in his report that the sheep sector is in critical decline and there is a mass exodus of sheep producers. He called for urgent action to be taken by the EU Commission and the Council of Ministers to halt the decline and calls for additional finance support as a matter of urgency to retain a critical mass of sheep production.

Mr Burns also said that Liam Aylward made a detailed presentation on the full contents of his report to members of the IFA National Sheep Committee at their meeting in Roscommon last week.

The IFA sheep farmers’ leader said he has worked closely with Liam Aylward on this report. Mr Burns said the IFA proposed a new sheep maintenance payment focused on the positive environmental attributes associated with sheep production and Liam Aylward had made this the key proposal in his report.

Mr Burns also welcomed the recommendation from Liam Aylward to introduce an additional payment for traditional mountainous breeds in order to preserve sheep in sensitive areas. Henry Burns said the Aylward report on sheep had made a number of additional recommendations on promotion, labelling, pricing, WTO and innovation. Liam Aylward has proposed:

1) A review of the introduction of electronic identification system and a move to a voluntary basis.
2) A reduction in the scale of tariff cuts for sheep meat in WTO and the option of sensitive product status.
3) Mandatory EU labelling with an EU logo and country of origin induction.
4) Ring fenced funding for EU lamb promotion.
5) Price transparency through the monthly publication of retail, wholesale, processor and producer prices on the internet.
6) 14 days notice to livestock farmers for on-farm cross compliance inspections as part of the CAP Health Check.

Mr Burns called on the Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan to fully support the recommendations for the sheep sector in the Aylward report. He said in conjunction with the EU, Minister Coughlan must act on the recommendations and put in place the necessary resources to implement the proposals. Mr Burns also said that Minster Coughlan must act urgently or otherwise it would be too late for thousands of Irish sheep farmers and a sector that is worth over €500m annually to the Irish economy.



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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 May 2008 )
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