Government should be ashamed 

Any reasonable examination of the data would indict the Government of – at the very least – incompetence, if not downright sabotage. Try to imagine any other occupation in Ireland requiring workers to put in 60-hour weeks only for a Government agency to produce figures showing a fall in income in just a single calendar year of almost 70 per cent! Try to imagine a situation in, for instance, the public sector where a group of workers were asked to just shrug and accept a fall in income of even 7 per cent, let alone 10 times that! Imagine the response. And imagine the Government falling over itself to apologise and explain why the fall in income has happened.  
Our farmers – arguably the best in the world – are losing their livelihoods and the Irish Government, we feel, is not responding appropriately, too concerned with implementing regulations and schemes aimed at non-commercial farming and funded at the expense of the farmers – like the milk suppliers – who are seeing their incomes falling by massive double-digits year-on-year. A shambles has been made of what was, until recently, Irish agri’s flagship sector – the one area in which Ireland was deemed ‘world-beating’ and the economic engine of rural Ireland.
It’s even more alarming when you note that the Teagasc figures calculate the income of a single labour unit at €34,567 (the €49,432 figure is based on 1.43 labour units). So you see that farmers have been working well below the minimum hourly rate set out by law when you take debt repayments of the average dairy farmer into account. 
The average dairy farmer working at least a 60-hour week at €34,567 per year, is coming out with about €11 per hour – and that’s before they meet debt repayments. The Irish Government and the civil servants responsible for the state of the dairy sector should be ashamed to show their faces in public on the basis of those figures.

Skip the pretense

The pretense that nothing can be done about the farm income situation, that it is just ‘market forces’ at play, adds insult to injury. We do not accept that. At the very least, the Government could take their regulatory foot off the necks of these farmers. Everywhere you look the Government’s policy is either to do nothing to make it better or – more often – to do something that makes it worse.
Those in charge should be ashamed of the aforementioned figures and be determined to turn them around. If they’re looking for straightforward, logical steps that would at least begin that process, then they must consider the below list of actions that the ICMSA made in its 2025 budget submission.

1. A measure to address excess income volatility within the farming sector whether caused by output or input prices, weather, or the regulatory burden on farmers. The Programme for Government drawn up almost five years ago had made a commitment on a volatility measure that had not been delivered to date. Budget 2025 provides this Government with its last opportunity to deliver a measure that was eminently logical and do-able, while being critical to the future of Irish farming.
2. The need for inheritance tax reform to support the transition of the family farm from one generation to the next and supporting farmers in the land market. The ICMSA is proposing an increase in the Class A threshold from €335,000 to €500,000 and an amendment to the reliefs to ensure that farmers are favoured over investors in land.
3. A 70 per cent grant for all farmers investing in slurry storage facilities. Considering the massive increase in the price of (particularly) concrete and the generally low incomes in agriculture, the ICMSA believes that a 70 per cent grant would represent a very effective investment by Government in terms of supporting the delivery of sustainability improvements in Irish agriculture.
4. A Dairy Beef Calf Scheme delivering a payment of €100 per head for the calf rearer and a further €100 per head for the cattle finisher subject to certain criteria. Dairy beef now accounts for over 65 per cent of total beef production in Ireland with a ready-made supply of calves from the dairy herd and, notably, it is a very climate-efficient system of beef production. This system of production needs to be supported and directed and a scheme delivering reasonable payments to farmers is an obvious ‘win’ in terms of sustainability.
5. ACRES participation. Should be increased to 70,000 farmers with a focus on intensive farmers.
6. Amendment to VAT and/or capital allowances to support investment in environmentally friendly equipment on farms. The taxation system must support farmers who are willing to invest in environmentally friendly equipment that is not always economically justified.
7. Funding for the Food Vision Groups’ recommendations made to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (some of which were made over two years ago). There have been many positive recommendations from these groups and to date, the Government has utterly failed to support the sector in their implementation.

Fodder and cashflow are very current and serious challenges facing farmers and the  ICMSA has impressed on the minister the need to support farmers in what is an extremely challenging year following an equally difficult 2023. 

These are eminently sensible and logical measures that would make a real difference to farm families. This Government will be judged on their willingness to act on these measures and include them in Budget 2025.