Forgotten farmer group
Minister Charlie McConalogue, has reaffirmed his commitment to support the group of ‘forgotten farmers’ in the next CAP.
Independent TD for Limerick Co. Richard O’Donoghue, raised the matter with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine last week.
He asked McConalogue to clarify the DAFM’s plans for forgotten farmers and confirm if this cohort will have access to the National Reserve and TAMS equivalent in the incoming CAP.
In response, the minister pointed to The Programme for Government ‘Our Shared Future’. It contains a commitment to seek to “resolve the issue of support for the category of farmers known as forgotten farmers”.
He told the deputy:
“I have asked officials in my department to examine options to address the issue of forgotten farmers both through the next CAP and through other measures to support this group.”
“I am committed to helping this cohort of farmers, and I will bring forward proposals as soon as possible.”
“Many of these farmers find themselves in this situation through no fault of their own. We will work with them to address this issue,” he concluded.
‘Forgotten farmers’ are a combination of farmers who lost out following the government’s removal of young farmer supports (Installation Aid) due to cuts in public expenditure.
Farmers in this cohort could not qualify for the young farmer supports the DAFM introduced under CAP 2015. In several cases, they had been farming for five years or more.
Once-off €5,000/forgotten farmer payment
Last week, we reported that Macra na Feirme called on McConalogue to clarify plans to address the forgotten farmer issue.
The farm group had stressed that these farmers must receive the support “that they have missed out on”.
It pointed to media reports at the end of 2021 indicating that forgotten farmers were to receive a once off-payment reportedly amounting to €5,000/farmer.
Also, it was reported that these forgotten farmers would have access to TAMS and the National Reserve in the next CAP period.
In a statement, national president of Macra na Feirme, John Keane, said:
“The minister needs to clarify if the cohort of farmers are being supported under the next CAP and where the funds are coming from to do so.”
Read more on this news story.
