Offaly based Independent Carol Nolan has accused Fine Gael of having “Government Bystander Syndrome” after Taoiseach Simon Harris told a Irish Farmers Association Hustings in Tullamore not to vote for Independent candidates in the election.
Mr Harris called on voters in Offaly not to vote for Independent candidates if they wanted to “strengthen the voice of Fine Gael in Government”, as he laid out Fine Gael’s offerings for farmers.
However, responding to his remarks Carol Nolan TD said the remarks had “gone down like a lead balloon among farmers in Offaly and beyond who have not for forgiven or forgotten the impact of the outgoing Governments policies on farm incomes and farm sustainability levels”.
“The Taoiseach may think he can get away with this kind of ‘innocent bystander’ electioneering. I can assure him farmers in Offaly will soon give him their response. They remember who was in Government. They remember who oversaw crisis level falls in income. They remember, and on 29 November they will make sure that Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens never forget it” the Independent candidate said.
“The Taoiseach and his party may be willing to treat Irish farmers like fools, but I am not,” the outgoing Independent TD said.
“All anyone has to do is look at the comprehensive research produced by the most recent Teagasc National Farm Survey which is representative of almost 85,000 farms in Ireland.”
“This objective analysis clearly demonstrates that under the stewardship of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens, the average Tillage farm income was down 71% in 2023 relative to 2022, while the average family farm income in Ireland dropped by 57% in 2023 to just under €20,000.”
“We also know from the available data that this decrease in the average farm income is strongly associated with the sharp decline in Dairy and Tillage farm incomes in 2023; two sectors which account for 53% of farm income in Ireland.”
“Fine Gael and its former Government partners may point to the introduction supports under the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP), the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) and the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), but as Teagasc point out, the average Cattle Rearing income was just over €7,400 in 2023, down 15%, or close to €1,350, compared with the 2022 level,” the Independent TD said.
“This is to say nothing of the disastrous outcomes in forestry that Mr Harris and his erstwhile allies have overseen.”
“I will take no lectures from Fine Gael, Fianna Fail or the Greens on how voters need to steer clear of Independents such as myself who has consistently promoted a reality based pro-farm family stance while Government was introducing measures that amounted to a bureaucratic and financial stranglehold on farm operations,” she said.
However, Fine Gael said that succession and inheritance tax were issues in the election – with junior agriculture minister Martin Heydon also saying that whilst he had been hearing from rural voters that “the Green tail was wagging the dog”, the three-party coalition came about “because the two biggest parties didn’t have enough numbers themselves”.
“The reason the two main parties didn’t have enough numbers was because of the amount of independents elected the length and breadth of the country,” he said. “If enough independents are elected, it will stymie what a government can do.”