Latest news with #FrancieGorman
BreakingNews.ie
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- BreakingNews.ie
Calls for tractors to be banned from motorways
Tractors must be banned from using motorways to improve road safety, according to truck drivers. The Irish Road Haulage Association is calling on the Government and Road Safety Authority to impose tighter restrictions. Advertisement Currently, the law allows for machinery to use motorways if the vehicle can maintain a speed of 50 kilometres per hour. Farmers say they will oppose any move to drive tractors off motorways. Irish Farmers Association President, Francie Gorman says the journeys tractors undertake on motorways are often short, and farmers need access to the road network. IRHA President Ger Hyland says there's a particular hazard for drivers approaching from behind at speed. "You have a car coming up behind them, and next thing they realise they are too close to the tractor in front. They have nowhere to go, they look to the overtaking lane, and it is full. "So then you have them taking the hard shoulder to overtake the tractor because they cannot stop in time. "If they do jam up on the motorway, you are likely to have a domino effect where one vehicle goes into another behind."
Agriland
21-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Department called on to ‘maximise' CAP simplification measures
While debate is ongoing on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027, there are also calls for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to maximise the simplification of the current CAP. Last week, the European Commission announced a package of measures to simplify the current CAP, with the stated aim of cutting down on bureaucracy for farmers and member states. The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) is calling on the department to take full availability of the flexibility on offer from the commission, and to 'learn from the lessons of the past'. IFA president Francie Gorman said: 'There are a series of proposals within this package…that we need to secure to reduce some of the hardship and complexity for farmers. One of the areas where flexibility has been provided is in the area of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs), including GAEC 2, which is the conditionality standard related to protection of peatlands and wetlands. The IFA had called for GAEC 2 to be removed from conditionality. Gorman said: 'We wanted an incentivised approach taken, with greater credit afforded to existing on-farm action, national and EU legislation, and agri-environment scheme requirements toward the protection of peatlands and wetlands.' He added: 'With the simplification process, while the GAEC standard remains, opportunity [and] flexibility is now provided to members states to satisfy GAEC 2 requirements. 'This will be without the need for additional practices for farmers, and for an incentivised approach, by removing baseline requirements from eco-schemes [and] agri-environmental schemes, to compensate beneficiaries for any cost [or] lost productivity associated with its compliance. 'It is imperative that the department continue to push for GAEC 2 to be removed. In addition, they should swiftly introduce a dedicated…intervention to compensate farmers for the costs incurred and income foregone in relation to implementing some or all of the GAEC 2 requirements, and investigate if the same can be replicated for those on designated lands, given false promises of the past,' the IFA president said. Gorman noted that the measures announced by the commission last week represent the second 'corrective package' from the commission on CAP in just over a year. 'This fact should serve as a lesson for the future and shape our discussions. Farmers need policies that are coherent, consistent, meaningful, and implementable, with greater farmer input throughout, but particularly in design stage. 'These principles must apply not only within the CAP but across wider and all EU policies that impact agriculture.' However, Gorman added: 'Future CAP simplification efforts must not undermine the common nature of the CAP or open the door to uncontrolled renationalisation. That would mark the end of CAP as we know it.' CAP simplification Gorman's views on GAEC 2 are shared by Irish MEP Michael McNamara, who has called on the government here to 'formally exclude' GAEC 2 from the baseline conditions of eco-schemes and agri-environment commitments. 'This change gives the government flexibility to exclude GAEC 2 and fairly compensate farmers managing wetlands and peatlands, who often face higher costs and income loss,' McNamara said. The independent TD added: 'The commission allowing member states to remove the measure from the baseline will mean less regulatory pressure on farmers managing these lands, while making CAP payments more accessible.' 'This change is a direct result of persistent pressure from farmers and their representatives across Europe. The Irish government must now respond quickly and adjust our CAP implementation to make use of this flexibility,' McNamara said.
Agriland
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Agriland
Gorman: EU budget changes ‘risk undermining support for farming'
The president of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), Francie Gorman has said that changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget would have a 'devastating impact' on supports for rural Ireland. Copa Cogeca, the umbrella organisation representing farmers and agricultural cooperatives, confirmed that a 'pan-European flash action' against changes to the CAP budget will take place in Brussels tomorrow, May 20. The IFA is a member of Copa, while the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society's (ICOS) is a member of Cogeca. The demonstration will coincide with the Annual EU Budget Conference 2025 where the next long-term union budget will be discussed. The IFA president will attend tomorrow's protest in Brussels, where he is hoping to engage with MEPs and members of the EU Commission. He told Agriland: '(We are) protesting against the possible proposals to have a single fund for all EU expenditure, with none of it ring fenced specifically for agriculture. 'At the drop of the hat, they could pull money out of that and put it into defence, or put it into something else.' 'Since the foundation of the EU, there has always been a designated common agricultural policy to protect farming across the European Union. It's the one common policy that we have in Europe, without it, we risk undermining the support for farming,' he explained. According to the IFA president, the EU needs both a dedicated CAP budget, and an increased CAP budget that goes 'over and beyond' the previous CAP. EU budget To coincide with the protest in Brussels, similar protests will take place tomorrow across all 27 EU member states. Ireland's protest will take place in Dublin, and will be led by IFA deputy president Alice Doyle and ICOS president, Edward Carr. According to the IFA president, the group of protestors is set to meet at the Irish Farm Centre, Dublin, at 8:00am tomorrow morning. The group will then travel to the European Commission's building, Mount Street, Dublin 2, for the protest.
Agriland
19-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Minister urged to grant additional powers to Agri-Food Regulator
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman has called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon to grant additional powers to the Agri-Food Regulator (An Rialálaí Agraibhia). The office of the Agri-Food regulator, which was established in December 2023, is concerned with promoting fairness and transparency in the agri-food supply chain. It has responsibility for enforcement of the Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs) Directive and also has a market data analysis and price transparency function. Agri-Food Regulator The IFA president said that additional powers are needed so the Agri-Food Regulator can compel businesses in the agri-food supply chain to provide price and market information when requested. 'After 18 months in operation, the minister must act now and grant these additional powers that will allow the office to compel businesses to provide necessary market information when requested. The current powers are clearly not sufficient,' Gorman said. 'IFA is aware of a number of large retailers that did not provide information to the Agri-Food Regulator when asked. 'The office should be in a position to produce price and market reports on all sectors of the food supply chain. 'IFA is aware that the Agri-Food Regulator reported back to the minister for agriculture in September 2024 on the initial establishment of the office and indicated the need for these additional powers. 'This request has not been acted upon to date, but the IFA president said now is the time to grant these additional powers. 'This office is critical to providing a more even playing pitch for farmers and smaller suppliers in the food supply chain and to lessen the impact of a few large retailers or multinational food companies,' he added. Meanwhile, the Agri-Food Regulator will hold its inaugural conference at the Johnstown Estate Hotel, Co. Meath tomorrow (Tuesday, May 20). The regulator will announce the findings of its survey into trading relationships between suppliers of agri-food products to the largest Irish retail and wholesale businesses. The event will also examine the move at national and EU-level towards greater transparency and fairness for primary producers, following on from the recent publication of the EU Commission's 'Vision for Agriculture and Food'.
Agriland
16-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Protest to take place in Dublin next week on CAP budget
A protest will take place in Dublin next week to highlight what farm organisations say is a threat to the EU budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The 'flash action' is being organised by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), and is set to take place at the offices of the European Commission's representation to Ireland. The IFA said it wants to 'warn the commission against stripping away the CAP budget in favour of a single fund approach'. The commission is understood to be planning a radical overhaul to the EU budget – the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – as part of which the commission is planning to merge its various funding programmes into a smaller number of funds, which would be allocated all together to member states. Member states would then outline how they plan to use the funding, which the commission would then approve. This could not only see the merging of funding for both pillars of CAP, but potentially also the end of ringfenced funding for CAP. The protest next week will coincide with a flash action organised by EU farming organisation Copa Cogeca in Brussels to highlight the importance of the CAP budget. Similar protests will take place in other EU countries at the same time. The commission is holding a budget conference in Brussels on the day, and the action is timed to happen when the conference is underway. IFA president Francie Gorman will attend the flash action in Brussels in his capacity as vice-president of Copa. He said that it is 'vital that a strong message is sent to the commission that the funding model and structure of the CAP is critical for the development of the farming and food sector in Ireland'. 'Everybody is aware that the geopolitical landscape is changing, but food security has to remain at the core of what the commission does,' Gorman said. 'All the signs are that the commission is still hell-bent on a single fund structure which, if approved, would be the beginning of the end of CAP as we know it. This approach will undermine the security CAP brings to millions of farm families around Europe,' he added. The protest in Dublin will be led by IFA deputy president Alice Doyle and ICOS president Edward Carr. Copa Cogeca is a joint group representing EU farm organisations and agricultural co-operatives. The IFA is a member of Copa, while ICOS is a member of Cogeca. Carr said that CAP is the foundation of a sustainable and competitive farming and agri-food sector in Ireland and Europe, and plays a vital role in maintaining farm incomes, supporting rural communities and driving progress on climate and environmental goals across the EU. 'What we need is a strong, practical, and properly and fully resourced CAP. One that cuts red tape and empowers farmers to focus on producing food, not paperwork. Farming in Ireland and across the EU is struggling to attract young farmers,' the ICOS president said. 'The commission must not risk accelerating the generational renewal crisis. Rather than potentially seeking mechanisms to undermine and defund CAP, the European Commission must stand by its farming citizens, underpin food security, and protect this essential policy,' he added.
