98% of Irish farm subsidy spending is being kept secret

AN ESTIMATED 98% of all farm subsidy spending in Ireland in 2010 is being kept secret, according to the farmsubsidy.org team of journalists, transparency activists and computer programmers.

This follows the European Union Court of Justice ruling in November 2010 that the EU’s disclosure of payment data relating to ‘natural persons’ was a disproportionate violation of the right to personal privacy. In response, the European Commission ordered member states to stop publishing data, and in April 2011 issued an interim regulation requiring them to publish only data on payments to ‘legal persons’ (companies and partnerships).

Previously, payments to all farmers were available on the Department of Agriculture’s website, where the public could search for specific recipients in specific locations.