THE Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, has been called upon this week to ‘dip into’ the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) to put some kind of financial floor under the ailing sheep sector.

Co. Galway IFA Chair, Stephen Canavan, said the IFA had suggested to the Minister that he consider access the BAR funds to prevent the collapse of the Irish sheep farming enterprise.

He said that BAR – which had a fund total for Ireland of close on €1 billion – could be used to fund meaningful supports for the Irish sheep sector.

“While some people might say that the crisis in the sheep sector is not a Brexit issue, the influx of New Zealand lamb into the UK has had a major influence on price.

“There is no doubt that the whole Brexit issue has been a contributory factor to the problems faced by Irish sheep farmers – the Minister is talking the talk but he’s not walking the walk,” Stephen Canavan told the Farming Tribune.

Sheep farmers were facing into a whole raft of problematic issues including the cost and availability of vaccines; the expense of tagging, and the almost complete collapse of the Irish wool trade.

“It costs €3.50 to shear a sheep and the average price for a fleece is 50c – and that’s if it can be sold at all. The comparable wool price in the UK is almost double that,” he said.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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