This article is from page 38 of the 2008-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
THERE was a mixed reaction in the farming community following the launch of the commission’s propos- als for the health check of the CAP.
Speaking on Thursday, ICOS Pres- ident, Padraig Gibbons, said docu- ments fail to provide a soft landing for dairy farmers in the lead up to the removal of quotas in 2015.
“The proposed series of quota in- creases of one per cent per year from 2009 to 2013 with no increase in the year before the removal of quotas failed to give clear signals to farm- ers, processors and marketers in or- der to encourage them to make the
necessary preparations for the end- ing of quotas in a timely, orderly and Structured fashion,’ he said
“In addition, such minimal quota increases will do little to reduce or eliminate the cost of purchased quo- ta. ICOS continues to call for annual increases of up to two per cent, every year between 2009 and 2014, com- bined with a decrease in the level of super levy and a removal of the but- terfat adjustment.
“ICOS has been working with other representative organisations in Europe to deliver a clear signal to the commission that they cannot al- low the European dairy industry to continue to lose world market share.
Gibbons went on to state that mar- ket support instruments needed to be maintained and utilised, particularly during the uncertain period leading up to 2015 and beyond, and that ex- port refunds and other internal mar- ket tools need to be used to support the vulnerable butter market.
“It is totally unacceptable to con- tinuously cut the level of Single Farm Payment, against a backdrop of rap- idly escalating production and com- pliance costs, and general inflation, which will result in payments being worth a small fraction of their origi- nal value,” he said.
Clare TD Tony Kileen also spoke publicly on CAP last week saying
that he is looking forward to the presentation of the proposals to the agriculture council at the forthcom- ing informal council in Ljubljana on 27th May and the opportunity at that meeting for a first political discus- sion on the proposals.
“My view is that the health check must deliver real simplification that has concrete benefits at farm level,” |aTemncy-5 (6
“T will work on building alliances and understandings with member states as well as outlining my con- cerns to the commission in order to achieve progress on issues such as an acceptable and ambitious increase in milk quotas for Ireland.”