ICOS President, Michael Spellman expressed his disappointment that Budget 2019 didn’t provide any facility for income stabilisation for farmers struggling with severe and ongoing market volatility.

ICOS, along with farm organisations, had worked very hard to propose and suggest the development of income stabilisation tools which might allow family farms to manage their incomes in such a way as to reduce their exposure to extreme volatility, and Mr Spellman acknowledged the work and support of Minister and his officials to make the case to the Department of Finance. Indeed, the EU Agriculture Commissioner supported those calls in this summer’s CAP communication.

Unfortunately, Minister Donohoe was reluctant to concede on the principle of income deferral.

ICOS will now concentrate on the development of a volatility management tool which can be incorporated into our CAP 2020 Rural Development Plan, as this will be a mandatory requirement on Member States.