Tractors, trailers, 4X4s and machinery of all sorts are currently on route to Dublin for the tractor protest taking place today.
Those behind the protest are calling for a “root-and-branch reform” of Irish state agencies including Teagasc and Bord Bia.
Organisers are also criticising the “overall Government neglect” of rural areas in relation to services and infrastructure.
The tractor protest is being organised by a number of individual farmers and will take to the streets of Dublin today (Tuesday, November 26).
In a brief statement on the matter, one organiser outlined to AgriLand that farmers protesting on foot will meet at Merrion Square for 11:00am, with protesters on tractors to join them an hour later at noon.
The video above shows tractors leaving Yores Garage, Maghera Co. Cavan. The service station offered the farmers breakfast rolls before they left for Dublin.
The protesters have outlined six key issues of contention which have led them to demonstrate.
These, they say, include:
- Carbon tax;
- Protecting family farms;
- Barriers preventing the Beef Market Taskforce;
- Reform of state agencies;
- Neglect of rural Ireland; and
- The dairy bull calf issue.
It was highlighted that family farms must be protected to ensure sustainable incomes, while calls have also been made for the removal of barriers that are preventing the convening of the Beef Market Taskforce.
Finally, the organisers have pointed to the issue of dairy bull calves, which farmers are facing this spring, criticising “low-value bull calves which there is no market for”.
