Coveney confident CAP can work to defend best interests of farmers

AGRICULTURE Minister Simon Coveney is confident that the EU’s new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) can still be fine-tuned to defend the best interests of farmers.

Many Irish farmers have been rocked by the EU draft proposal document for CAP confirming leaks of a swing away from ‘historical’ production-based farm payments towards land ownership-based ‘flat’ payments.

However, having met with fellow agriculture ministers in Luxembourg, Mr Coveney believes there will be sufficient EU-wide momentum to achieve flexibility in the localised distribution of farm payments and rural funding to better suit the realities of Irish farming.