Farmers call for REPS to be reinstated

It took just over an hour for the hundred or more farmers who turned out to protest over falling prices and rising costs lunch time (Monday) to make their way from Grange to the Mullingar park Hotel.The convoy which travelled the length of the town had a formidable presence as farmers from Glasson, Castlepollard, Ballymore and indeed from all across the county joined forces to raise awareness of their financial plight."What do the farmers want," said Seamus Creevey who had travelled in from Killucan. "We want to get a proper price for what we produce and that is not available to us at the moment."Many of the farmers at the protest were displaying placards which said that beef prices were now at the same level as they were in 1982."Basically we want to draw attention to the fact that life is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers," said Bernard Drum who had travelled in from Delvin."The problem is that expenses are so high in relation to the price we are having to sell at. Once upon a time there was a living to be made from cattle, milk and tillage but that has gone down and down. REPS has been cancelled and so has the disadvantaged areas scheme. We are hoping that the government would at least make a gesture or acknowledge the difficult time that we are having. We always say that when farmers are doing well, everyone will do well and I don't think that people in urban areas realise that."Public relations officer for the Westmeath Irish Farmers Union (IFA), Paddy Donnelly said that the large attendance at the protest was indicative of the "desperate" situation some farmers were now facing."We do realise that times are tough for everyone but we want people to understand that when the income of farmers is hit then it has a knock-on affect on the whole local economy."Shop keepers will be losing out on money spent on wire and fencing materials and that is just one example. "We know that 70 per cent of the income gained from the REPS scheme was spent in co-operatives with local businesses. By taking away that scheme alone the average loss is €6,200 a year per farmer and that is a big hit to take."The government has been in talks with the Green Party all week and yet there has been no mention of agriculture. Farmers have invested an awful lot over the last few years, particularly in waste management, because they were told that they had to do it. There has been a lot of unnecessary bureaucracy in farming over the last number of years and we would like to put a stop to that."At the very least we would like to see REPS re introduced and have the government give some indication that they are aware of farmers' plight."