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ISLEOFMANEXAMINER OPINIONS

www.iomtoday.co.im Tuesday, September 14, 2021

email: opinions@iomtoday.co.im Please include your phone number

COMMENT

Union, the farmerswho served ontheexecutivecommittee, the FMAstaffandthesecretaryand manager Mr Henry Robinson who devoted his life to agri- cultural marketing, requires a publicapology as it isonlysince government involvement from 2008 that the fatstockmarket- ingchangedfrombeingahighly successful operation. DavidMoore POLITICS Morehelpneeded formental illness Itwasn’tuntil thefinalquestion at theRamseyelectionmeeting last week that the candidates sharpenedtheirresponsesand theaudiencepaidevenmorese- rious attention to them. The question was about the crisis state of mental illness in both adults and children, lead- ing to an increase in suicides on the island, particularly in Ramsey. It was determined that the Isle of Man Government hasn’t re- sponded let alone been pro- active to meet the needs of the overwhelmingdemandforpro- fessional mental illness and psychiatric support of the citi- zens of the island. A few of the candidates men- tionedbroadeningtheservices at theRamseyCottageHospital such as dermatology and plas- tic surgery clinics. All well and good, but no mention of in- creasedmentalhealthsupport. Thedoctors’ surgeryinRamsey has dramatically reduced the one-on-oneappointmentswith patients which has destroyed an ideal opportunity for early intervention in mental health cases as well asmany other pa- tient care issues. Patient care, including diagno- sisshouldnotbedoneasstand- ardpractice, on the telephone! The doctors are apparently under contract to the NHS and they have changed their busi- ness model. It is very apparent that they are not serving the community. We don’t pay doc- tors toworkfewerhours forus. Therehave tobechanges inthe elected representatives we are sending toTynwald if this situ- ation is going to improve. Some of the current members of Tynwald are not fit for pur- pose. Nameandaddress supplied INFRASTRUCTURE See senseover roundabouts Copy of a letter sent to the De- partment of Infrastructure regardingtheproposednewlay- out at Balthane junction. Our first point is how disap- pointed we were with the haphazard presentation on Thursday, August 19. The meeting was poorly pre- sented due to the lack of an ap- pointed chairman; worst of all wasthelackofaworkingmicro- phone to allow people to hear Ballaberna Maughold

electedFMAandMarketingSo- cietybeing justoverseers,but it was felt these companies were not giving a fair result tous. It was therefore accepted by all that our own elected FMA should take on the operation as a non-profit/ non-loss mak- ingco-operativeofall theisland farmers, with the system hav- ing threemainprongs. Salestolocalbutcherswouldbe setatprices intheUKtoprotect consumers. At the start the Liverpool Meat Marketpriceswereused,which were later changed to theMLC published prices which cov- ered 64 UK markets, with this process to be supervised by the then Board of Agriculture and more latterly the depart- ment , asTynwaldand later the EUneeded assurances that the FMAwasnot able to set its own local selling prices. Butcherswereprotectedas the FMAwaspreventedfromenter- ing into retailing. For producers, all stock had to betakeninwithinaweekortwo ofbeingentered,whichineffect providedacompletemarketing service for all farmers for all of their animals when they were ready. The f i nanc i a l operat i on amounted to receiving income fromlocalsalesatUKpublished pricesandincomefromexports beingthebestprices thatcould be achieved. Fromthis total sales incomeall processing and marketing ex- penses were paid with the re- mainingbalancebeingpaidout to producers in their producer prices sono losses resulted. There was, however, the need forsomesmallprofit fromtime to time tobuildupreservesbut inany event theywere restrict- edtonomore than3%of turno- vertoensurethatmostrevenue was paid out to producers. It is unfortunate from com- ments, that some Tynwald members are not able to com- prehend the principle of a non-profit/ non-loss making co-operative when they made disapproving interjections when Daphne Caine said that theFMAhadnotmade any loss for over 50 years of operating. Of course the FMA could not have a situation of making a loss as there was no available revenue to cover any loss. Therefore, the success of the operation is measured by the prices thatproducersreceived, but as the elected executive committeemembersdepended ontheFMAreturnsfortheiran- imals in common with all oth-

er farmers for their livelihood, they had to ensure that the op- erationwas run efficiently. Fromdocuments provided at a meeting, it was shown that our beef returnswere about 92%of averageUKprices. That showed a successful op- eration when considering that the FMA provided a complete marketing service to farmers, operateda highercost small is- landmeatplant,operatedasub- stantialexporttradeandpaying £240,000ayearrent totheDoI. An alternativemeasure of suc- cess was the efficient modern agricultural industry on this small islandthatcomparedwell with any other area in theUK. Sowhere did it all gowrong? In2008thefarmsubsidieswere transferredfrombeingpaidfor producing products to being paid on acres farmed, part of whichwas a variable head pay- mentonanimalsgoingthrough themeat plant. Thiswasanadditionalpayment to the meat marketing perfor- manceprice list. TheFMApro- vided a payment service for DEFAusuallysomeweeks later. This transfer of the head pay- ments to acreage reduced throughput as it removed the incentive to process through the local plant, along with the transfer of the other subsidies reduced island production as farmers could receive an in- comewithonlylimitedproduc- tion, resulting in less efficient processing and less effective marketing for the FMA. Beefcalfbirthsfor2019, thelast completeyear,wereonly60%of the births in2008. Anderson Consultants had recommended retaining these headpayments at theplant but the DEFA, supported by the Farmers’UnionledbyMrQuay- le as president, wanted them transferred to acreage. To help offset this move, the DEFA promised a subvention, whichmeant that the FMA de- parted fromitsoriginal system of paying out only the income it received fromsales to paying prices closer toUKaverages. However, like any average, therewillalwaysbesomeprices above the average so some live exports continued, thus by- passing the local plant. Al though the subvent ion amounts received by the FMA varied considerably from year to year and did not in any way matchthedeficits,possiblydue todiffering year ends, theFMA continued to pay out the high- erprices thantheycouldafford fromsales incomewithanyde- lay in subvention in a particu- lar year coming fromthe years when amountswere higher. Itwasnotuntil2016,eightyears after the change, that the ac- counts made it clear that the delayed subvention would not be received by the FMA which eventually lead to the FMA be- ing unable to continue. Clearly the Chief Minister’s disrespectful comments of the Deemster’sschemewhowasap- pointed patron of the Farmers’

whatwas being said. We would also like to point out that on the evening and online the drawings and artist’s im- pressions are very small and difficult to follow but we trust in your ‘extensive surveys’ of the area has considered the impact of the train crossing, existing pedestrian crossing, bus stops and the Silverburn, MeadowCourt and Sycamores entrances and exits? We think we speak for many peoplewhenwe say thatweare fedupwiththe IsleofManGov- ernment bending over back- wards to allow Dandara and otherdeveloperstobuildwher- ever they want and so make huge profits with little consid- erationoftheimpact it ishaving on the local community! It will be said the new proper- ties are needed for first time buyers and new residents but the Reayrt Mie properties are veryexpensiveandwebelievea goodnumberofthehouseshave been purchased for ‘buy to let’ andinvestment,withlocalbuy- ers gazumped by the builders, returning their deposits and upping their prices! When Dandara was given per- mission to build Reayrt Mie, the clear message to residents was that the Balthane junction of thebypasswouldbeserviced by a roundabout. Itappearsthatnowafterthede- velopershavebeengiventhego- ahead for phase two and three you have informed the public thereisnotenoughroomforthe roundabout option and there will have to be traffic lights in- stalled. After thedemolitionofproper- tieswithmoretofollow,wehave toquestionatwhat point itwas realisedtheroundaboutoption wouldn’twork? WearenotamajorUKcity.This is a small village that is going to be totally gridlocked should traffic lights be installed, cre- ating queues of traffic with en- gines running pumping out fumes! Of course it might work in our favour. The lights might sim- plymake commuters avoid the bypass and its junctions push- ing themtouse themoredirect routes and minor roads thus making the bypass a white el- ephantandaburdenonthetax- payers. Although difficult to hear at the meeting we thought it was stated that the cost of the traf- fic lightsoptionwas£1,600,000 with £600,000 earmarked for the demolition of properties. We have since seen the figure quoted at £1,900,000? Roundabouts work perfectly well inother (reallybusy) areas on the island and in the UK so weaskyoutoseesense...unless as we all believe it is already a fait-accompli situation where Government will steamroller throughtheirownideasinspite of valid objections. JuanKermodeandHilary Kermode MeadowCourt Ballasalla

AGRICULTURE Howmeat plant problemsbegan If anyone needed further con- firmation that the government policy since 2004 has been to reduce the agricultural indus- try, they only have to read the inaccuracies from the Chief Minister recently. They were contained in his speech onTynwald’s debate on the policy review committee’s reportonthemeatplant,which should be more accurately de- scribed as the processing and marketing of the island’s meat animals as the plant itself is owned by the Department of Infrastructure for which rent is paid. TheChiefMinister’scomments taken fromHansard. ‘I think we paid a pound for the meat plant to take a share be- cause itwasabasket case. Ithas been a basket case for 50 years or more. All my life it has been a problemtotheagriculturalcom- munity.’ ‘To tryandsell themeat plant as apotentialbusinessthat isgoing tobeprofitableandbeasuccess, forthepast50yearspeoplehave tried and failedmiserably.’ ‘This meat plant should have been shut down 50 years ago.’ To counter these claims it is necessary to understand the history. Uptothe1950s farmersoffered live finished meat animals for sale to butchers at each of the three livestockmarts. However, there was insuffi- cient competitionbetweenthe island’s butchers to give a fair price and on occasions it has been reported that only one butcher would turn up to buy, which obviously resulted in low prices for farmers, result- ing in a depressed agricultural industry. Thiswas recognisedby the late Deemster Johnston, who set about devising a scheme for marketing our meat animals thatwouldaddress thismatter. He came up with the Fatstock Marketing Scheme and trav- elled around the island to gain support for it fromfarmersand acceptance byTynwald. Icanremembermyfatherpick- ing up his tagging pliers and tags at the Ramsey slaughter house, as thiswas thefirst time thatanimalswereeartaggedfor identificationpurposes. The scheme was initially op- erated for very short periods by the UK Fatstock Marketing CorporationandlaterbytheUK BritishBeefCompany,withthe

Laa-ruggyree sonney da Bunscoill Ghaelgagh! The primary school that teaches lessons only inManx is 20 years old. There have been – and no doubt remain – critics of thedecisiontoset itup. Surely it would be bet- ter to spend money on conventional education rather than on this niche pet project? We disagree. The Manx language is one of the things that sets us apart from the rest of the world. It is one of our unique attractions. The language under- pins much of Manx cul- ture. Its influence in place names is so important. And some words echo down the decades to us still. What’s the English for brabbagh, tholtan or thie veg? The closest we can think of to ‘traa dy liooar’ is ‘mañana’. English can sometimesbesodeficient. Bunscoill Ghaelgagh not only supports that legacy but it ensures that the language,whichcame so close to dying out, will have a bright future. Being bilingual – no matterwhat the language – is said to help children inmanyways. Studies have shown thatbilingualchildrencan outperformmonolingual children in a number of subject areas. The effects of bilin- gualism is said by some studies to help improve a child’s educational devel- opment, cognitive func- tions, social skills, literacy and emotional skills. Sothepupils that leave theschool are likelytonot onlybegoodambassadors forthelanguagebuthavea great start to life too. The investment in the Manx language is an in- vestment in education and the future of many children too. We hope the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh enjoys many more birthdays to come. School is a great asset to island and its pupils

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