IFA president, Tim Cullinan, met with the Taoiseach and acting Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Micheál Martin, yesterday evening (Monday, August 24th).
The farm group sought the meeting with Martin following Dara Calleary’s resignation from cabinet.
“We are very concerned about the disruption caused by the loss of two ministers for agriculture since the new government was formed, and reports that a new minister would not be appointed for three weeks,” Cullinan said.
“The Taoiseach confirmed to us this evening that he intends to appoint a new Minister next week,” he said.
“We emphasised the importance of having a minister in place to represent farmers on crucial issues such as CAP, Brexit and the national Budget in October,” he said.
Brexit
The farm leader said the outlook on Brexit is looking “very bleak”.
“Irish agriculture has most to lose from a bad outcome, with over €4bn worth of food exports going to the UK last year.”
“In this context, we made the point to the Taoiseach that the trade portfolio in the EU Commission is particularly important to Ireland,” Cullinan concluded.
Photo credit: Finbarr O’Rourke
