|
|
 |
You are > Home > Mood of farmers is soaring
|
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Mood of farmers is soaring
BY DONAL HICKEY
NOWADAYS, it would take a row about something like a proposed halting site, or a dump, to attract 200 people to a public meeting.
At least that many attended a meeting about the sea eagle reintroduction project, at Darby O’Gill’s, Lissivigeen, Killarney, the other night, reflecting a high level of interest in the project.
But the well-intentioned organisers, the local Community Alert, were not quite alert to the potential the meeting had for a good auld squabble.
It was billed as an awareness/ information meeting and that was the way it rolled along until some farmers decided to have a cut at the project manager, Dr Allan Mee, who was among the speakers.
An amount of heat was generated by the farmers and the intensity of farmer opposition to the eagle project became apparent. Many people in the room, including children, seemed shocked.
The meeting was also insightful in that the true reason for farmer opposition emerged. And that has nothing to do with rubbish about the danger of eagles taking lambs. It’s all about money. Kerry IFA chairman James McCarthy spelt it out clearly.
All the negative publicity about farmers poisoning eagles is reaching the EU paymasters in Brussels and there is now a "serious threat" to the payments farmers receive, as a result.
Any farmer caught illegally poisoning eagles might have the payments slashed. Dr Mee was accused of saying that farmers were deliberately poisoning eagles.
However, in several interviews I’ve had with him on the subject, I’ve asked him if he thought the poisonings were deliberate. His consistent reply has been in the negative, always saying he believed the poisonings were accidental.
The farmers won themselves few supporters at the meeting and their angry attitude certainly did their public relations no favours. But not all farmers are against the project, it must also be pointed out.
Perhaps, if there had been more consultation with farmers before the eagles were released, many of the issues could have been effectively dealt with and there would have been a better chance of getting farmers on side.
Something else that surfaced was the division between farmers and the tourism industry, one of the main supporters of the eagle project.
The farmers argued that they are getting nothing out of tourism. Yet, they are still expected to allow visitors onto their property and to maintain the hills and the landscape in a manner that’s attractive for tourism.
What’s more, they had a lash at hotels and restaurants in Kerry for not using Kerry milk, meat and other locally-produced food.
One of the most positive contributions at the meeting came from Michael Gottstein, a Teagasc sheep farming adviser.
In the space of 10 minutes, he ably outlined the situation facing sheep farmers today: poor returns on lamb, with prices no better than they were 20 years ago, the cut-off of EU payments due to overgrazing and the fact that young people are no longer going into sheep farming because it is unprofitable.
And then he put his finger on the real issue as far as eagles are concerned – foxes.
Farmers are putting out poison for predatory foxes who are taking their lambs, at a loss of €50 to €100 per lamb. It seems, then, that if some way other than poisoning could be found to keep foxes at bay, the eagles would be safe.
Mr Gottstein suggested a pilot project to cordon off lambing areas at lambing time through the use of electric fencing, as is the practice in other countries.
So if the fox problem is solved, will the eagles be allowed soar happily along? Must wait and see, but wouldn’t bet too much on that.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
