Campaign to ensure politicians resist CAP regionalisation proposals

IFA officers from all around the country are lobbying TDs and senators to resist CAP reform proposals on flattening and regionalisation, in advance of a protest planned for Dublin Castle next Tuesday.

With the Farm Council set to convene in Dublin next week, the IFA is urging politicians to support the flexbilities which were secured for Ireland at the council’s last meeting in March — outcomes which were described at the time as “a watershed moment” by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

IFA president John Bryan said: “Any backtracking on this will be a watershed moment for his credibility. The minister for agriculture must stand his ground and insist that the flexibilities agreed at the March meeting, which did not include a minimum payment, are retained in the final deal.”

IFA’s campaign to secure an outcome to CAP reform that works for Irish agriculture will intensify in the coming days. The farmer group wants Ireland to renew and reinforce alliances with other like-minded member states.

Mr Bryan met key figures in Strasbourg this week, including Irish MEPs, Joseph Daul, head of the EPP, and Jim Nicholson, MEP for Northern Ireland.

Following a meeting with the Spanish minister for agriculture Miguel Arian Canete, John Bryan said the Spanish minister strongly rejected Commissioner Ciolos’s proposal for a mandatory minimum payment as part of the outcome of the CAP Reform negotiations.