CALL ON MINISTER TO DEFEND CONNEMARA SHEEP FARMERS

Date Published: 01-Apr-2008

The environment must not be used as a tool to depopulate Connemara of its sheep and farmers. That's according to Galway West Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames who attended an IFA meeting of 300 sheep farmers in Maam Cross last night. New Government laws coming into force on the 1st of November, will force farmers to remove their sheep from the hills for five months of the year to limit over-grazing. Senator Healy-Eames says farmers in the region don't have enough low-lying land or sheds to house their flocks in. The Fine Gael Senator says the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon O'Cuiv should defend farmers' livelihoods.