For as long as I can remember, news stories of angry and discontented farmers have kept popping up in the newspapers as well as on television.
Whether it be from complaining about subsidies, to complaing about hedgerows, to complaining about pylons, to complaining about wind turbines, to complaining about foxes and badgers, to complaining about hikers and strollers, to complaining about environmental impositions, to complaining about drones, to complaining about just about everything, they never seem to be happy with their lot in life. Despite being subsided by urban workers, they will nonetheless complain about townies along with tales of this and that being Dublin-centric.
They will complain that their boreen doesn't have the same standards of infrastructure, waste disposal services, public transport or access to other such key services as the evil Dublin-centric Dublin area full of Dubliners, forgetting of course that these urban areas are densely populated ones which also happen to pay more than their fair share of taxes in order to cover and justify such services. They act like they are self-sufficient guardians of the land and have an almost messiah complex that they're keeping the rest of us alive with their hard work and toil. When in reality, they are heavily subsided by government taxes, paid of course in large part by the urban workforce.
They consistently flout environmental laws almost to the point of criminal negligence. Miles upon miles of rivers and groundwater sources throughout the land are heavily polluted thanks to corrupt and incompetent farmers allowing run off from farms to continue with often disastrous results for everything from fresh water fish populations to the sources of drinking water for others.
Greedy farmers often with land on flood plains have for decades strong armed their local gombeen TD's and councillors into getting their parcel of land rezoned and cashing in big time in the thereafter. During periods of heavy rainfall, whole housing estates built within unsuitable river valley areas have been flooded resulting in millions of euros worth of damage. As per usual, if a local authority refuses to grant farmers planning permission to rezone their land to residential - they will kick up a fuss and complain
Whenever they feel the slightest grievance, whether real or imagined - they will decend upon Dublin en masse in their tractors intent on causing traffic chaos throughout the city until they've felt they've gotten their point across and gotten what they wanted in the first place. If that doesn't work, they will bring their tractors down again and thus - complain, again.
In short, it seems like farmers are never happy.
Whether it be from complaining about subsidies, to complaing about hedgerows, to complaining about pylons, to complaining about wind turbines, to complaining about foxes and badgers, to complaining about hikers and strollers, to complaining about environmental impositions, to complaining about drones, to complaining about just about everything, they never seem to be happy with their lot in life. Despite being subsided by urban workers, they will nonetheless complain about townies along with tales of this and that being Dublin-centric.
They will complain that their boreen doesn't have the same standards of infrastructure, waste disposal services, public transport or access to other such key services as the evil Dublin-centric Dublin area full of Dubliners, forgetting of course that these urban areas are densely populated ones which also happen to pay more than their fair share of taxes in order to cover and justify such services. They act like they are self-sufficient guardians of the land and have an almost messiah complex that they're keeping the rest of us alive with their hard work and toil. When in reality, they are heavily subsided by government taxes, paid of course in large part by the urban workforce.
They consistently flout environmental laws almost to the point of criminal negligence. Miles upon miles of rivers and groundwater sources throughout the land are heavily polluted thanks to corrupt and incompetent farmers allowing run off from farms to continue with often disastrous results for everything from fresh water fish populations to the sources of drinking water for others.
Greedy farmers often with land on flood plains have for decades strong armed their local gombeen TD's and councillors into getting their parcel of land rezoned and cashing in big time in the thereafter. During periods of heavy rainfall, whole housing estates built within unsuitable river valley areas have been flooded resulting in millions of euros worth of damage. As per usual, if a local authority refuses to grant farmers planning permission to rezone their land to residential - they will kick up a fuss and complain
Whenever they feel the slightest grievance, whether real or imagined - they will decend upon Dublin en masse in their tractors intent on causing traffic chaos throughout the city until they've felt they've gotten their point across and gotten what they wanted in the first place. If that doesn't work, they will bring their tractors down again and thus - complain, again.
In short, it seems like farmers are never happy.
