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Farmers deliver four-fold

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EDITORIAL

OUTSIDE of the farming community, envious eyes are often cast on the fact that Irish farmers are eligible for a raft of grants and subsidies.

 

It is certainly true that farmers enjoy special considerations relating to their form of livelihood but often overlooked is the fact that so many of our industries derive from agriculture. Outside of the obvious agri-business and food, the list is endless as regards to where the road from the farm gate stretches.

Agriculture is the base point from where so many Irish international success stories have sprung – Guinness, Bailey’s, Jameson Whiskey, Kerrygold butter, as well as clothing companies, such as Magee from Donegal and knitwear and fashion brands.

A new report, prepared by the IFA, shows how farmers who receive direct payments deliver a substantial return to the wider community. For each €1 of direct support for cattle and sheep, farmers had a strong multiplier effect, underpinning over €4 of aggregate output in the economy.

Translated into more pertinent figures it has emerged that direct payments totalling €84 million for over 6,500 Clare farmers generated almost four times more in aggregate agriculture-related output, totalling €326m for the local economy in 2012.

The average farm size in Clare is 33 hectares (81 acres) and the total land area farmed is 213,627 hectares.
The report prepared by UCD Professor of Agriculture and Food Economics, Alan Renwick, explained how the basis value of agricultural output from Clare farms was €189m and this, in turn, generated an additional economic spin-off of €138m from the purchase of raw materials, such as fertiliser, meal and other inputs.

The value of agricultural exports arising from agricultural output in the county was €268m, while the value of the forestry output was €9m. Land currently under private forestry totals 28,718 hectares. However, this is an area where there is plenty of scope for further investment on lands that can serve little other useful purpose.

Clare agriculture supports thousands of jobs in the rural economy, both directly in food and drink processing and also in the wider agri-industry, including input suppliers, agricultural contractors, jobs in auctioneering, transport and engineering, accountancy, legal, veterinary and other advisory services.

The study estimates 1,481 food and drink processing jobs are supported by the agricultural output of the county, with up to 4,285 relying on agriculture in the Mid-West.

Clare farm productivity levels and structures are highlighted in the statistic that the county’s 75,687 beef suckler cows is the second-highest number in Munster after Cork, which, as a much bigger county, has 90,925.

Being an island nation, we’re all but a step or two away from the land. What happens behind each and every farm gate is just as important as what’s happening in business, the civil service or industry. We’re all in it together and interdependent.

Psychiatric unit overcrowding

HEALTH Minister Dr James Reilly had scarcely made his exit from Clare last week, when news of another Ennis General Hospital-related crisis emerged.

The victims are among the most vulnerable in our society – psychiatric patients, who, over the past couple years, have endured totally unacceptable conditions at the 39-bed Ennis Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU).

Overcrowding, leading to residents being required to sleep in an activities therapy room and a corridor, has been a common occurrence at the unit, which has male and female rooms. In fact, that happened on no less than 30 occasions between January and April last year. Beds were wheeled from the activities room to the corridor during the day and returned at night.

The Inspector of Mental Health Services found the HSE to be in breach of mental-health regulations in relation to overcrowding.

After a March 2012 visit, the inspector noted the 2011 inspection and re-inspection reports made 10 recommendations, only four of which had been acted upon.

Details of a re-inspection of the unit at the end of last October revealed there hadn’t been any great improvement and bed occupancy generally ran at 113%. The inspector referred to a case where one resident’s bed was located on a corridor space with no provision for safe storage of personal belongings or privacy, while another resident was rummaging through those items.

The inspector remarked on how the practice of transferring residents to Unit 5B in Limerick Regional Hospital, due to overcrowding, was continuing, something that was not in the best interest of the Ennis residents. Also to their detriment was the fact that sectoral teams were not adequately resourced and health and care workers were stretched.

With problems on the inappropriate use of the activity room and corridor continuing into this year, the HSE issued a formal directive advising that “the maximum bed occupancy for the unit is not to be exceeded and also that use of non-accommodation areas for bedroom space was to cease with immediate effect”.

All this could so easily have been avoided but it became inevitable when local knowledge was ignored and the reconfiguration process marked out Ennis at the approved base for the APU in the Mid-West, taking patients from North Tipperary and Limerick.

Caring for people suffering from mental-health issues at home, in a familiar environment, is certainly the preferred option and is possible in many cases. However, no matter how hard we strive to keep people out in the community, residential care is often required.

Despite the advances in psychiatric care, in-patients are often worried and confused. The need still exists for us to remain vigilant as to how patients – a family member, friend or neighbour – are being taken care of.

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