Any direct payments cut would have a dire effect

A report commissioned by the IFA and launched last week, entitled ‘The importance of the cattle and sheep sectors to the Irish economy’, shows the sectors are hugely important to the economy, and calculates that the €2.3bn output at farm gate level creates total output of €5.7bn.

The sectors support 100,000 farmers and more than 50,000 jobs in the wider economy.

The report, carried out by UCD professor of agriculture and food economics Alan Renwick, highlights the deeply embedded nature of the two sectors in the Irish economy in terms of their high spend on inputs and services in the local economy, and their very strong export orientation.