The Great Divide – Dublin versus rural Ireland

I LISTENED to a panel discussion this morning about the supposed divide between Dublin and rural Ireland on The Tubridy Show on RTE Radio 1. Perhaps the biggest perpetrators of this divide, if it really exists, could be the sons and daughters of farmers brought up in modest circumstances on family farms, but who are now infatuated with the charms of Dublin and the allure of the ‘knowledge economy’, according to one of the contributors. 

One of those contributors was Mairead Lavery, a journalist with the Farmers Journal.  She stated fairly categorically that the output of agriculture and its ‘spin-offs’ was €11 billion and responsible for 220,000 jobs.  That would be wonderful if it were remotely accurate and defensible and it stimulated my curiosity to check the underlying facts. It is a pity to have weakened the credibility of an interesting debate by exaggerating accomplishments!

My own view is that rural life in Ireland has an authenticity and candour that simply cannot flourish in the clutter of an urban environment.  A close friend of mine showed me photographs this weekend of a recent visit to Newport, Co Mayo which featured street musicians at pubs and cafes as well ‘characters’ neighbours and ‘old-timers’ from the town all totally at ease in each others company.  The warmth and friendship that was so abundantly evident was infectious. No identity crisis here!  That, I believe, transcends  economic dimension of rural Ireland. 

Income

The CSO published the National Income and Expenditure Accounts for 2008 last week. Table 4 shows that the gross added value of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in 2008 was €3.95 billion and that this level of added value was stagnant since 2005 when it amounted to €4.27 billion.  That is well short of the €11 billion suggested by Miss Lavery. 

The food and drinks processing sector, some of which is connected to agriculture, claims exports of €8 billion, another figure that has stagnant over several years when the economy was vibrant.  The 2003 annual report of An Bord Bia, whose purpose is to market Irish food overseas, stated that the estimated value of food exports in 2003 was €6.67 billion.  It would seem, therefore, that Irish food has not made a major tantalising impact on the human palates of the universe since then.

There are 128,200 farms in the country and only 22,700 of these are of 50 hectares, or more.  Over 65% of Irish farmers are over 55 years of age.  There were 141,500 at the turn of the 21st century.

The remuneration of employees in agriculture in 2008 was €542 million, a figure that has increased by 24% since 2003. 

The income of independent traders allied to agriculture in 2008 was €2.65 billion according to these official figures.  When the remuneration of employees is combined with the earnings of independent traders connected to agriculture, we learn that the ‘toil of the soil’ actually accounted for 2.7% of the personal incomes of households an non-profit institutions in the state.

Farming continues to contract as a component of the Irish economy and there must be questions about its viability.  Weak commodity prices imply weak bargaining power – an experience that, for example, eludes the oil producers of the world.  They squeal and we say ‘how much?’

Employment

The total Irish labour force at the end of March 2009 was 2.18 million, of which 222,800 were unemployed.  Agriculture accounts for 101,500 of the 1.96 million people that were in employment at that time. Farms employs 15,200 non-family workers.  Over 60% of farmers had off-farm employment in 2007.  Before the economic downturn an estimated 50,000 persons worked in the food industry.  The maximum number that agriculture, food and fisheries could therefore claim to employ is closer tot 150,000 directly and indirectly, rather than the 220,000 suggested by Miss Lavery.

 

Public Expenditure and overspending

When Dublin people think of rural Ireland the image of subsidies is never far from their mind!

	2008	2004
European Agriculture Guarantee Fund	€1,457.34M	€1,399.39
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	€1,800.70M	€1000.64M
Administration	€303.86M	€254.35M
Total Public Expenditure	€3,561.90M	€2,724.41M

 

When the Exchequer Statement for July 2009 was released it revealed that there was a shortfall in tax income of €575 million against a target set 3 months ago.

 

It also revealed that while most of the government departments had lower spending for the January-July period in 2009 and as a consequence overall spending was €161 million more than it ought to have been, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food had spent spent €219 million more than it did a year earlier.

 

I’m not an expert on agriculture but New Zealand farmers are citizens of an island nation that share many characteristics with Ireland.  They have not had subsidies since the 1980’s when they recognised that paying subsidies generated inflation in New Zealand.  To what extent can Irish farmers continue to be subsidised and at what cost to whom?

 

An Bord Snip

 

A lower number of subsidised schemes are the headline recommendation and a rationalisation of the network of DAFF and Teagasc locations combined with a corresponding rationalisation of the 6,264 staff by eliminating 1,140 jobs.  The proposed full-year savings are projected to be €305.1 million, 6% of the €5 billion overall savings necessary to keep Anglo Irish Bank with sufficient capital.

 

Savings Measures

 

	Annualised savings	Staff reductions
Agriculture, food and fisheries policy and development	€51.3M	450
Food, animal, plant safety and consumer welfare	€83.3M	340
Rural economy, environment and structural change	€87.5M	150
Customer service and payment delivery	€73.0M	100
Corporate services	€10.0M	100
Total current savings	€304.1M	1,140

 

 

Irish investment boom follows implementation of An Bord Snip Nua report recommendations

The Chairman of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure, Colm McCarthy, expressed astonishment, pleasant surprise and delight at the positive impact of the recommendations in his report, the synergies made possible by the recent reunification of Ireland, the relocation of the Oireachtas to Stormont and the nation’s readmission to the Commonwealth.

The island’s dormant development agencies are also to be revitalised, according to a joint announcement yesterday by An Taoiseach, Peter Robinson TD, An Tánaiste, Martin McGuinness MP, MLA and the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Sammy Wilson.

The existing multiplicity of economic development agencies are to be disbanded and a new centralised agency established. It will be known as the Royal Industrial Development Executive (RIDE) and is to be headquartered at Fr Seán Fortune House, Culaville, Co Armagh. RIDE will have overall responsibility for the island’s industrial development effort and prosperity.

Shannon Development, which has been unable to function effectively following the mothballing of Shannon Airport in the late 1990’s and the subsequent obsolescence of Morse Code, will now have special responsibility for industrial development in the Bogside and Waterside districts of Co. Londonderry. It is currently examining several technology transfer opportunities with clients in Zimbabwe, Pyongyang, Havana and Afghanistan.

The mandate of Údurás na Gaelteachta is to be extended to Baile Andersun, Ardoyne and other Gaelic-speaking areas of West Belfast. Mary-Lou McDonald is to become its chief executive. She will operate from its Clifden headquarters and is to be provided with a Harley Davidson motorcycle instead of a traditional Lada to save money.

The Government is anxious that RIDE will have a dynamic, visionary chief executive supported by a small, effective and relevant board of directors. In keeping with its new spirit of parity of esteem, the board will be selected by The Equality Authority and comprise two former terrorists (one from the former Republic of Ireland and one from what was formerly Northern Ireland), one evangelical clergyman, the son of a Roman Catholic bishop and two innocent victims of terrorism, one a Protestant and the other a Roman Catholic. Mr McGuinness emphasised that the new board must include among its members persons who have strong commercial and financial credentials, even if this expertise was gained in gun running, money laundering, tiger kidnapping, tax-evasion by bank directors’, concealing directors’ loans, racketeering, extortion and drug smuggling. “We must use all the talents available. There will be no glass ceilings or closed doors in Culaville. Parity of esteem must not be seen as mere tokenism”, he hissed as he waved a crutch in his right hand.

The new chief executive is likely to be a Muslim and the leading candidate has undertaken to host a special social function in Limerick and greet her staff personally each Christmas and at the conclusion of Ramadan, rather than through her male secretary’s e-mail, which had been the tradition in the former development agencies of Saorstát Éireann. The 1,100 staff of the new agency will consist of not less than 75 grades, all grades doing equivalent work but each enjoying unique working hours, holiday entitlements and expense account regimes. This will enable them rehearse frequently with their flute band – which is being established as a shared service that will play at both Protestant and Roman Catholic funerals. Staff will not have job titles, or a job definition. Annual merit awards will be determined at a top-secret séance conducted in a 4-berth caravan outside Drumcree parish church each November. Recipient of merit awards will be notified discreetly by MI5. White Toyota Hiace vans (well, a million knackers can’t be wrong!) and former troop personnel carriers will be used to ferry visiting businessmen around the country. Particular attention will be paid to staff communications. Recognising the critical importance of keeping staff totally ignorant of ongoing developments that concern them, the traditional purple shroud of secrecy will be maintained as will avoidance of all social eye-contact, personal rapport or rapprochement between servants and their masters. Emergency information maybe obtained from the top shelf of any Tesco store.

Gender balance in state agencies is no longer a priority due to the urgent need to repopulate the island following 40 years of sexual inertia. Promotional opportunities to more senior, self-esteem enhancing positions will be strictly determined through a process of gerrymandering to ensure parity of esteem. Successful applicants will be identified from the platform at the conclusion of the annual Bar Mitzvah ceremony in Edenderry after the traditional 12^th of July parade.

Yesterday, Mr Robinson thundered that “I utterly deplore the grossly inadequate efforts of the old free state nationalist parliament to tackle industrial development.” He particularly deplored their impotence following the 1993 Maastricht Treaty which caused every shred of market power to be sucked into the centre of Europe. The new Government, he stated, has a holistic approach to the urgent national job creation effort. Under this, RIDE will have a name that does not obscure its purpose. Robinson said that names like Forbairt and Forfás “were more evocative of a drug to cure bovine impotence or an epidural anaesthesia, rather than a modern, focused investment agency. The days of the public being taken for a ride on the jobs issue are over!”.

Robinson also stated that The Commonwealth Medal is to be awarded to citizens of outstanding merit. It will no longer be government practice to appoint well-meaning sycophants to the boards of state companies to either honour their eminence or acknowledge their bulging brown envelopes.

County enterprise boards, which between them had 504 directors and 34 employees are to be discontinued but the former director’s will form a National Commemoration Committee that will organise the annual pilgrimage to Bodenstown for Fianna Fáil, now largely a spent parliamentary force since its huge losses in the June general election and especially Peter Robinson winning a Dáil seat in North Kerry. The remainder will replace the members of the Army Number 1 band who were forced to retire due to deafness.

RIDE will have a completely invigorated approach to industrial development. Following a review of its corporate plan the document will be formally lodged in a vault in Milltown Cemetery to avoid the prying eyes of staff curious about its implementation.

New overseas offices will be opened in centres of ‘world-class’ technological excellence – including Tirana, Kabul, Gaza, Darfur and Harare. All existing US offices will be closed to reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint and because the recent bankruptcy of Aer Lingus has severed air links with that country. A white flag will be flown over the existing office in Tokyo and Shanghai to encourage trade enquiries. All other overseas offices will display a black flag to commemorate each investment project but an embossed refuse bin lid, bearing the RIDE logo, is to be displayed at the site of each new investment in Ireland, even in circumstances where the chief executive concerned is gay, or laid low by swine flu.

RIDE will come into operation at the end of August. The Archbishop of Armagh, His Eminence Cardinal Pat Buckley will travel to Armagh from his hideout in Cloyne to celebrate a special ecumenical service and the flower arrangements in Armagh Cathedral will be made by Twink and Dana, who will interrupt their holiday at the international break-dancing academy in Gweedore.