Plan Needed to Promote Wicklow Produce, says Doyle

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Plan Needed to Promote Wicklow Produce, says Doyle

Monday, May 14 2007

Cllr. Andrew Doyle, Fine Gael general election candidate in Co. Wicklow, is calling for the development and implementation of a proper plan to actively promote local Wicklow produce.

"Wicklow farmers produce a top quality product which is clean, green and fully traceable, yet the current FF-PD Government has failed to uphold its reputation and failed to robustly market this premium product. We need to seriously tackle the deplorable situation where six farmers per day leave the land, the average farm wage is half the average industrial wage at just over €15,000 and once input costs have eaten into this figure - many farmers operate at a significant loss.”

Clear labeling of the country of origin on food is also urgently required to allow people to make a choice about whether they want to purchase local or foreign food. In addition, Cllr. Doyle says that, for example, a local brand for Wicklow lamb should be introduced.

“Wicklow lamb is a hugely recognisable brand on menus throughout Ireland and the world and is a vantage point that we should utilize more for the benefit of our beautiful county. All Wicklow lamb should have a tagline promoting the fact that it is from the county. For example “Lamb born in Wicklow and fed with local produce”.

"Fine Gael will work with farmers at every opportunity, not against them, to build our food sector as a global food leader. Our proposals will tackle the bottlenecks in the system, which hampers growth and will give farmers the helping hand they now require to compete in a global economy. A vote for Fine Gael in Government is a vote for the ending of the neglect of Irish agriculture and a vote to restore our food sector to the centre-stage of our economy."

Cllr. Doyle is also calling for the maintenance of sheep grazing on hills in Wicklow as a natural way of control vegetation growth in the county. “Sheep grazing ensures that vegetation does not overgrow in the uplands and this helps maintain the natural eco-management system in these area. In addition, sheep make the tracks that people walk on so this is doubly beneficial from an ecological perspective.”

Cllr. Doyle also points out that the Fine Gael manifesto states that the party will help the farming community to grow and develop their enterprises, through targeted State supports; investment in food research and development and enhanced training and education. Fine Gael also pledges to promote alternative locally-based employment for rural dwellers, particularly part-time farmers.

“Fine Gael is also committed to giving farmers the opportunity to grow and consolidate their land holdings by restoring roll-over relief for consolidation and CPO as well as structuring tax relief to encourage longer leaseholds. The party will also cut bureaucracy and give farmers freedom to farm by reducing red tape by one quarter within 18 months of returning to Government and by ending no-notice inspections.”

“We will also build a vibrant and robust bio fuels industry through removing excise duty on bio fuels to create a market amongst motorists, providing seed capital to meet production and processing costs and reforming existing crop supports to maximise farmer participation in the bio fuel industry.”

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