IFA President tells National Economic Dialogue that the Govt Must Address the Cost of Doing Business

IFA President Francie Gorman led the IFA delegation to the National Economic Dialogue (NED) in Dublin Castle today.

The NED heard from the Taoiseach Simon Harris, the Minister for Finance Michael McGrath, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe and the Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan.

“I made it clear that the Government needs to address the cost of doing business in Ireland for farmer and others. A lot of these costs are arising from EU and Government regulations,” he said.

“The reality is that we now have people raising concerns about increasing food prices. However, this is inevitable when costs and regulations on the farmers producing the food continue to rise while supports are being cut,” he said.

“Either the Government will need to pay farmers for sustainability costs or the consumer will have to pay more. Farmers cannot carry the cost,” he said.

“Today was an opportunity to engage with the Taoiseach and key Ministers and drive home the message that farmers have had enough of costly regulations and being asked to do more and more for less and less,” he said.