Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1985 > Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities (4th Committee) > Report No. 21 - Crisis in Farming - Summer 1985

APPENDIX 2

RESOLUTION (1)

on the bad weather in Ireland.

The European Parliament

A.Having regard to the unparalleled crisis situation facing the farming Community in Ireland, both North and South, following the disastrous summer weather of unprecedented rainfalls and storms,

B.Conscious that a very high proportion of the Irish economy is directly dependent on agriculture - more so than in any other Member State,

C.Aware also of the unprecedented devastation in many parts of the country to tillage crops and hundreds of animals killed following a freak thunder, lightning, and hail storms in July,

D.Conscious that these disastrous weather conditions have led to the wholesale destruction of vital winter feed which cannot now be retrieved and to the drastic fall in livestock prices due to inevitable glut market conditions for cattle,

E.Aware also of the disastrous losses in the cereal harvest, the destruction of the potatoe crop due to severe blight conditions and the major losses suffered in the horticultural industry, all of which have resulted in significant reductions in farm incomes which cannot now be recovered,

F.Whereas some individual farmers have suffered total loss of crops,

G.Aware that Irish farmers are on average amongst the poorest in the Community and that this disaster will continue to aggravate their position for the coming years,

1.Urges both the Commission and the Council to recognise the seriousness of the present farming crisis in Ireland;

2.Calls on the other Member States to demonstrate their solidarity by supporting special measures of assistance to Irish farmers both North and South;

3.Urgently requests the Commission and the Council to grant emergency aid to the affected areas and to propose appropriate measures to reduce the social and economic consequences of the disaster;

4.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Irish and U.K. governments.

(1) Adopted on 13 September 1985