Ireland-Job security needed in farming.

IRELAND-SEEKING JOB SECURITY IN MEAT AND FARMING.

MORE creative ways of creating jobs in the agri-food industry is being sought by the Labour Party.

Sean Sherlock TD, the party’s agriculture and food spokesperson, said the Government seems to be able to bend over backwards to attract foreign direct investment.

The same effort and ingenuity should now be applied to supporting indigenous industry, he said.

Mr Sherlock said it should never be forgotten that the agricultural sector accounts directly for 5.2% of total employment and indirectly a further 6% in processing, marketing and services.

That’s a total of 230,000 Irish jobs.

"We need to create a stimulus to encourage farmers to diversify into local need agriculture and horticultural produce by encouraging and fostering more farmers’ markets.

"More locally produced produce would create micro economies in rural areas and prevent the haemorrhage of local money to multi-national groups.

"Farmers should also be encouraged to set aside some land, which can be rented out as garden allotments," he said.

Mr Sherlock said the Government has made a point of supporting foreign companies but many of these are now leaving and taking jobs with them.

At the same time the Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith has suspended the installation aid and early retirement schemes and made cuts to the rural environmental scheme, suckler welfare scheme and disadvantaged area payment, he said.

Irish Farmers Association president Padraig Walshe said the lack of Government action to support the food-processing export driven sector is now costing jobs and is having a further serious negative impact on the already disastrous state of farm incomes.