Thousands of tractors take to the streets in Irish protest

Irish farmers took to the streets in their thousands on Thursday night (1 February), driving through towns and cities across the country in a show of solidarity with their EU counterparts.

Organised by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), and co-ordinated by its 29 county offices, the action followed several weeks of protests by farmers in Germany, France, Belgium and other countries, dismayed at emerging “green policies”, cuts to their subsidies, and unfairness in the supply chain.

See also: Farmer protest flares up in Brussels as tensions mount

IFA president Francie Gorman said: “Farmers here have been watching the protests across Europe. They are just as frustrated by what is happening as farmers in other countries.

“They feel they are being regulated out of business by Brussels bureaucrats and Department of Agriculture officials who are far removed from the reality of day-to-day farming,” he said.

Mr Gorman insisted that Irish farmers are pro-EU. “But there is mounting frustration about the impact of EU policy on European farmers, and its implementation here in Ireland.

“The general feeling among farmers across the EU is that ‘enough is enough’,” he said.

Social media

Social media was awash with videos from the numerous events held across Ireland on Thursday night, including mass tractor rallies from Galway in the west to Dublin in the east.

#enoughisenough some turnout in dungarvan pic.twitter.com/UrOSSDH1W2

— Aidan Ahearne (@AhearneAidan) February 1, 2024

Farmers also staged drive-throughs in Sligo, Athlone, Dungarvon and Portlaoise, while hundreds of tractors were parked on bridges over the M11 motorway in County Wexford as part of the action.

“We’re fed up with legislation, we’re fed up with being treated like second-class citizens, we can’t take it much longer,” IFA cereals committee vice-chairman John Murphy told the Irish Farmers Journal.  

“We’re going broke and this government is going to have to wake up because enough is enough,”

And Seamus Shannon, a beef farmer from County Clare, told agri-news portal Agriland: “Farmers are sick and tired of the government attacking our way of life.

“We’ve had enough of their green policies and their attacks on food production.”

A spokesman for the IFA said there were no immediate plans for a repeat demonstration, but the organisation would be studying any changes in Brussels policy that might emerge following recent farmer action there.

Earlier this week, the EU Commission agreed to a one-year derogation from rules obliging farmers to keep certain areas of land non-productive (fallow).

French protests annulled 

French farmers have been camped out all week blockading roads with tractors in and out of Paris and other cities in a standoff with police.  

But the two main French farming unions – FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA) – announced an end to their “siege of Paris” and other nationwide road blocks on Thursday 1 February, urging protestors to take their tractors off the streets and go home.

Their joint intervention follows an announcement by prime minister Gabriel Attal of an agenda aimed at boosting France’s agricultural sector. This included promised cash, an easing of regulations and protection against cheap food imports.