This article is from page 14 of the 2006-11-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
UNWIELDY and overcomplicated regulations are preventing Clare farmers from diversifying and forcing many out of farming altogether. This is one of the main topics up for discussion when the three Northwest area MEPs address a Clare IFA meeting this Friday, November 10.
Marian Harkin (IND), Jim Higgins (FG) and Seán Ó Neachtain (FF) will address a top level meeting of the IFA in Ennis and take part in a questions and answers session regarding issues of special interest to farmers in Clare.
“There must be a balance between rural development and farmers,” said the president of the IFA in Clare, Seamus Murphy. “These regulations could stifle development on farms. Farmers are free spirits and for them to make progress they need to be able to try different things.
“If everyone is forced to be the same then development will be stifled. We want there to be a future for farmers in the county and with so many regulations it is hard to move outside of them, they are very controlling.”
The meeting will begin with an address from the IFA’s economist, Clareman, Con Lucey. The Ballynacally native will outline the IFA’s position on a number of issues before the three MEPs take part in a question and answers session. This is the first occasion since the last EU election in 2004 that Clare farmers have the opportunity to meet their representatives in Brussels.
“With the changes in the last election we have been put in with a new region and this is a chance for the MEPs to learn a bit more about us and for us to learn a bit more about them,” continued Mr Murphy. “We feel that the MEP’s need to know what we want. We see this as an opportunity to put forward our views on a number of different matters.”
The meeting will be at the Auburn Lodge Hotel in Ennis at 8.30pm.