"Farmers sold out’ by department" - An Taisce

An Taisce has claimed that farmers have been “sold out” by the Department of Agriculture’s decision to re-allocate over €400m worth of CAP funding that had been earmarked for spending on Ireland’s most threatened wildlife areas.

Now the national heritage body has written to the European Commission’s Agriculture and Environment Directorates-General to query the legality of the re-allocation under the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013, and it said that the commission has confirmed it is now investigating .

The original budget for distribution to farmers managing land within special protected areas was €528m.