Farmer’s Journal Rep, BIM official and Minister McConalogue to attend Simpsons on Tuesday 1st November

DETAILS of new schemes and funding supports available to Farmers and Fishing Families in Inishowen will be showcased at a special Farm and Fishing event being held in Carndonagh next week.

The event, which is being organised by Inishowen Development Partnership [IDP] and Inishowen Skillnet, is the 3rd event in the INBusiness series.

It aims to bring together two of the biggest industries in the Inishowen Peninsula to discuss a range of funding opportunities and supports which are available to Farmers and Fishermen. It is also open to anyone who is in the ‘blue economy’ whether it be coastal tourism, boat builders, seafood processing, net-making or the marine retail/aquaculture sectors.

The night, which is free and open to anyone in the Farming/Fishing/Blue Economy industries, will take place upstairs in Simpsons Bar in Carn on Tuesday [ November 1 ], with proceedings getting underway at 7pm.

Opening the event will be The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD with established Farmer’s Journal Sheep Editor Darren Carty being the keynote speaker for the farming community on the evening.

Carty’s role in the Farmers Journal on the sheep front is to inform and advise farmers on markets and technical management issues that will positively influence their enterprises and increase potential profit. The focus on schemes over the last year has centred on the important CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.  

Henry O’Donnell of the Donegal ACRES project will also be speaking at the event and will heavily focus on the new ACRES scheme and how Inishowen farmers can benefit from it.

For the Fishing families and those interested or involved in the Blue Economy,  Paul Downes, BIM’s National FLAG Network Officer for Donegal, will be addressing the audience on the latest round of FLAG funding. He will also be discussing the Brexit Blue Economy Scheme and other schemes funded by BIM.

Paul explains that the “Brexit Blue Economy scheme is not just for fishermen but for anyone working in working in coastal tourism, boat builders/repairs or anyone providing auxiliary services to the fishing community”.

Joint CEO of IDP Andrew Ward said “it is a great opportunity for farmers and fishermen to have representatives such as these in Inishowen to inform them of what supports are available locally”.

Previous INBusiness events focused on the Tourism, Hospitality and Construction and Manufacturing  industries. However the Farm and Fishing event is one of the first of a kind for Inishowen, IDP and Skillnet.

Helen Nolan, Chairperson of IDP said: “We feel it was important as part of our Inishowen Skillnet and IDP INBusiness series to recognise that Farming and Fishing remains as some of the most important sectors across all corners of Inishowen”.

IDP’s Farm and Fishing Families Officer Joe Sweeney said the aim is to bring the various speakers together in a one-off event to inform our farmers and fishermen of all the supports that are currently available to them.

“Farmers – be it dairy, tillage, beef or sheep farming – make up a huge part of the Inishowen landscape and are so important to our economy locally. However due to the cost-of-living crisis, the pandemic and Brexit, Inishowen Farmers and Fishing families are facing challenging times,” he said.

“This event is free and open to everyone in those industries. We have a range of speakers who will be providing people with useful, practical information that will hopefully improve their livelihoods going forward in 2023 and beyond.”