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Tag Archives: ICSA

Punch ready to fight for Clare in Europe

Clare farm leader, Eddie Punch, has named the development of Shannon Airport and the return of political power to local areas, as two of his main issues ahead of his bid to be elected to the European Parliament. The East Clare man stepped down as General Secretary of the ICSA on Tuesday in order to attempt to become Clare’s first MEP since Sylvie Barrett (FG) was elected in 1984. Mr Punch believes that now is the time to rebalance the political power structure in Ireland. He says that the upcoming introduction of a directly elected mayor for Limerick could be a catalyst for increased devolution of powers at the local level. He also believes that the role of Shannon Airport must be strengthened in the years ahead to insure balanced regional development. “I am really concerned about the tourism sector in Clare in particular. There has been a completely lackadaisical approach to tourism. The role of Shannon Airport really has …

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Clare farm leaders have ‘robust’ exchange with minister

TALKS between Clare farmers and the Agriculture Minister have been described as “robust, full and frank,” as a delegation travelled to Dublin this week to fight for the Burren Programme and Hen Harrier Project.  Both schemes are at risk, as they are set to be subsumed into the new ACRES programme from the end of this year.  Michael Davoren, Aoife Forde, Dr Brendan Dunford and Councillor Joe Killeen made the case for retention of the award-winning scheme, that has made a multimillion Euro contribution to the sensitive environment of the Burren and to the local economy. Also addressing Minister Charlie McConalogue and Minister Pippa Hackett and their officials were Councillor Pat Hayes, Denis Tuohy and Ruairí Costello, who made the case for the retention of the Hen Harrier Project. A number of Clare’s Oireachtas members also attended. After the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, the ministers and officials undertook to come back to attendees, after giving consideration to …

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Volunteer spirit at Ennis IWA charity shop rewarded

“OUR volunteers are the backbone of what we do,” says Tina Nagle, shop supervisor at the Irish Wheelchair Association’s charity shop in Ennis’ Elevation Business Park. Tina was speaking to The Champion as the shop’s team celebrated scooping an impressive four national awards from the Irish Charity Shop Association, including Volunteer of the Year for Margaret Hurley. And she revealed the success of the Ennis shop, which has expanded to 3,000 square feet at its base on the Clon Road, is set to become the model for any new shops to be opened by the charity in the future. According to Tina they were “thrilled” to receive accolades from the Irish Charity Shop Association at their recent awards ceremony in Dublin. As well as Margaret’s national Volunteer of the Year award, selected from charity shops all over Ireland, volunteer Hasibullah Darwish was runner up in the Volunteer throughout Ireland category; Teresa Marshall received a special Volunteer Recognition award and Tina …

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Clare farmers being short-changed with CAP reforms

ICSA chief says support for organic farming ‘excessive’ relative to other sectors CLARE’S suckling enterprise, which generates an annual injection of an estimated €60 million into the local economy, is being short changed under the latest CAP Reform proposals, a local farm leader has claimed. ICSA secretary, Eddie Punch has called on Clare’s Oireachtas members to address the significant underfunding of direct supports for Clare suckler, beef and sheep farmers under the government’s proposed package under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). While Mr Punch supports organic farming, he believes the proposed funding of €256 million for this sector is “off the richter scale”. In 2020, there were 66,232 calves registered as born to a suckler cow in Clare. This puts Clare as the third highest county in Ireland for suckler cows behind Galway and just marginally behind Mayo. ICSA secretary, Eddie Punch stressed the suckler enterprise is hugely important for sustaining rural towns and villages in Clare. “Marts like Ennis, …

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Carbon tax hike blots a ‘farmer friendly’ Budget

FARMING representative organisations in Clare have given a cautious welcome to Budget 2021, while voicing reservations over the fairness of the an increase of almost 2c per litre in the price of agri-diesel. An increase of €7.50 per tonne of carbon came into effect last Tuesday night, adding 1.937c the cost of a litre of green diesel. The measure takes the total carbon tax on agri-diesel to almost 9c per litre. Said Cratloe’s Eddie Punch, General Secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), “The carbon tax is an environmental measure when there is a viable alternative to agri-diesel. When there’s no realistic alternative, it becomes just another tax, and it’s unfair.” Tom Lane, Clare County Chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), agreed the measure is unjust in the view of his members. “There is no viable alternative to agri-diesel on the market currently,” he said. “We understand the pressure to reduce emissions and when you look …

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Clare farmers urged to participate in postal protest

CLARE farmers are being urged to post back new controversial TB herd history letters to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine as a form of protest. There has been a furious reaction by farming organisations and farmers to the department’s decision to send out these letters to herdowners. The call for a postal protest was made this week by Clare Beef Plan chairman, Joe Woulfe, who asked why the DAFM are doing this unnecessary measure, as farmers already know whether they had TB or were TB free over the last ten years. “If a farmer has TB, it is not something they will forget as you can’t move your cattle. “The Department aren’t offering a reward if a farmer didn’t have TB in one year or ten years. 96.5% of TB has been eradicated from the national herd. What is the definition of eradication? “In my view, it has been eradicated if 96.5% of the herd is TB free. …

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Farmers protest at regional vet lab

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), along with ICMSA, this morning (Wednesday) mounted a protest at the Regional Veterinary Laboratory in Knockalisheen, Meelick over the possible closure of the facility. The protest was scheduled to coincide with a trip to lab by a review group from the Department of Agriculture and was led by ICSA general secretary Eddie Punch and rural development chairman Seamus Sherlock. Speaking at the protest, the ICSA general secretary said, “This proposal makes no sense at all. The lab is a vital resource with helping farmers determine the cause of mortality and with helping them get on top of infectious diseases another animal health issues as soon as possible. Closing it down will have a huge detrimental effect on animal health and welfare. It will also hinder farmers efforts to be more efficient in reducing mortality. We had an exchange of views with the Department officials here and we will be having further discussions …

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Farmers cautioned on loan scheme

ICSA rural development chairman Seamus Sherlock has called on local farmers to be cautious if availing of the new 2.95% loan scheme. The scheme, which will be operated by the banks, utilises a combination of funding from the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and an interest subsidy funded jointly by the EU and the exchequer. “While ICSA welcomes low interest rates in general, it is vital that farmers carefully assess their borrowing capacity. The new scheme is being promoted partly on the basis that the loans are unsecured. While this may lead to a faster and more efficient approval process, farmers should not assume that they will be immune from making full repayments. Even in the case of an unsecured loan, banks are fully entitled to seek a court judgement, which could be registered against the farmer’s assets. The message is that these loans should only be used by farmers who have carefully weighed up their repayment capacity and have …

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