Urban-rural divide narrative misleading and unhelpful - ICSA
Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was widely criticised for comments he made recently regarding rural Ireland.
Rural Development chair Edmond Phelan has said recent comments by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are deeply misguided and risk creating a false and damaging divide between urban and rural Ireland.
“Framing rural Ireland as somehow dependent on urban taxpayers is both misleading and unhelpful. It ignores the reality that our economy is interconnected, with each sector relying on the other,” he said.
Continuing, Mr Phelan said, “While farmers do receive CAP supports, these reflect the realities of food production in a highly competitive market where farmers have little influence over the prices they receive, while production costs continue to rise.
"These payments help sustain viable food production in a highly regulated system and support farm incomes that would otherwise not be sustainable.
"In sectors such as beef, suckler, and sheep farming, incomes remain persistently low despite these supports.”
He said the agri-food sector continues to make a significant contribution to the Irish economy through exports and employment.
“Agriculture is one of the country’s largest indigenous sectors, with agri-food exports now worth over €20 billion annually.
"Its impact goes far beyond the farm gate, and the idea that one part of the country is ‘paying for’ another does not reflect how the economy actually works,” he said.
Concluding, Mr Phelan said, “The focus must be on ensuring farmers are properly supported to meet the expectations being placed on them.
"Farmers are being asked to take on additional costs and responsibilities, often without any clear pathway to make that pay.
"Attempts to portray rural Ireland as a burden on the rest of the country are wrong, divisive, and show a complete lack of understanding of how the Irish economy actually works.”
Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar apologised for the comments he made on rural Ireland in a recent podcast, saying he “over-stated” his case.
On the Path to Power podcast, the former Fine Gael leader said: “What’s in the interest of farmers and the agriculture industry is by and large not in the interest of Ireland as a nation.”
He said people in rural Ireland often suggested they were the “real workers” and “paying all the bills”, but in fact urban Ireland was paying more while rural residents are “in receipt of a lot of subsidies and a lot of tax benefits that other people don’t get”.
He faced criticism, including from Fine Gael TDs – especially those representing largely rural constituencies.
Mr Varadkar told The Irish Times that he stood over some of the points he made, arguing the vast majority of tax is paid in urban Ireland while 80 per cent of food is imported to Ireland, but added that he "went too far and over-stated my case on certain other points”.
