Rural communities are feared to have been placed in a precarious position as there has not been much focus on developing sufficient strategies to improve general conditions. A recent meeting between the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has highlighted the need for the reassessment of the EU vision for Irish agriculture.
In a meeting held between Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Martin Heydon earlier this week, it was heard that the focus should shift to food security, energy security, and the security of the EU in broad economic and social terms.
Voicing his concern regarding the matter ICSA President Dermot Kelleher re-introduced the notion that rural communities have been sidelined or brushed aside, as the EU had focused on grandiose visions.
Referencing the current Russian invasion in the Ukraine, Kelleher says that the dangers of relegating security to a secondary consideration has left the EU and the West so vulnerable on energy security is at least partly to blame for making Putin feel invincible.
Kelleher stressed that ICSA is not against the EU Green Deal but added that a green deal without food security is a “disaster waiting to happen”.
LSL News.