Permits for cattle farmers a step in the wrong direction

Caherlistrane farmer says it’s ‘over the top’

EU PROPOSALS that would see family farms having to secure a permit to operate have been described as “absolutely mad” by the IFA’s Chairwoman of the National Farm Business Committee.

The permit proposals are part of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), officially published by the European Commission on Tuesday, April 2.

The permit would cost €2,400 on an annual basis and would apply to farmers in Ireland and across the EU member states when they reach anything over 100 head cattle for example. The permits would have the potential to seriously hinder beef and dairy farmers in this country.

Such permits are already in existence for large-scale industrial factories, mines and pig and poultry farms.

“Take suckler farmers for example. If they have 40 or 50 cattle, who have 40 or 50 calves. Then they have replacements and bulls. You run over 100 cattle very easily,” said Rose Mary McDonagh, farming in Caherlistrane and Chairwoman of the IFA’s National Farm Business Committee.

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