Tillage lands along the south coast were parched as a result of a salt drift caused by a sea mist during the severe winter storms.

Let us assume for the moment the British people vote in 10 days time in favour of continued membership of the European Union.

Farmers, meat factories and the Department of Agriculture are all pushing to ensure the European Commission does not offer beef import quota concessions to South American countries.

The option of a proposed voluntary cut in milk production by farmers in EU member states, to help reverse the plunge in prices, is being strongly opposed in Ireland.

Children’s Minister James Reilly addressed the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi on the battle for cigarette plain packaging legislation in Ireland and Europe

Ireland effectively told the European Commission "don't bother us" when it was warned the economy was at grave risk of overheating seven years before its eventual nosedive, a top EC chief has said.

With regard to Mrs U Forinton’s letter (Irish Examiner, Oct 9), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement, which is being negotiated in Brussels, is of grave concern to me and to many of my constituents.

If the Government wants to ease up on the planned €2bn budget adjustment in October, it will have to prove it can achieve the 3% deficit target by 2015 through sustainable growth rather than one-off measures, according to a EU Commission source.

An influential member of the European Parliament has supported the Government’s efforts to get a direct recapitalisation on bank debt.

The Irish Cancer Society says it cannot recommend electronic cigarettes as an alternative to tobacco until they are regulated in Ireland.

Mandatory supports for young farmers in both pillars of the new CAP will mark an historic first, says Macra na Feirme president Alan Jagoe.

A major step in the most radical reform of the EU’s fisheries policy was agreed by the European Parliament.

Maintaining a fully-funded CAP budget remains the number one priority for Irish farming, said IFA president John Bryan following discussions in Brussels yesterday with Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

IT MIGHT appear that Enda Kenny is better appreciated outside Ireland than within it, now that he is the first Taoiseach since Sean Lemass to appear on the cover of Time magazine, subject of a largely very favourable piece about the hard work he is doing to rescue the Irish economy and praising his personal qualities.

Senator Mark Daly is right to highlight the lack of parliamentary scrutiny of Irish legislation (Aug 29).

A British charity has suspended plans to deliver aid to Syria because of the worsening violence in Lebanon.

Can Mario Draghi, the new broom at the head of the European Central Bank, deliver on his pledge to do whatever it takes to defend the European currency from attack, asks Kyran Fitzgerald

The European Commission has proposed to provide €2.7m to help 572 workers made redundant at Talk Talk in Waterford and three of their suppliers.

A fourth member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle died yesterday from wounds sustained in a bomb attack this week and his forces fought to recapture border posts and parts of Damascus from rebels targeting the heart of his power.

THE process of discarding dead fish is to be phased out by the EU Fisheries Council in Luxembourg and eventually banned.

Recently I spoke with Donal Whelton, agri advisor for AIB in the south west region, in relation to farm finance.

THE Irish fishing industry will have a record €250 million quota for next year, following EU negotiations described by Marine Minister Simon Coveney as “very challenging”.

FISHING industry leaders predict that a meeting of EU fisheries ministers beginning this morning will deliver an unanimous rejection of proposed EU catch quotas.

IT’S much too early to be arguing over fine print in the CAP reform proposals published by the European Commission yesterday (which came too late for any details to be given here).

The European Commission has today proposed to provide Ireland with €35m from the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF) to help 5,987 redundant construction workers across Ireland back into employment.

WHEN does life end?

THE EU should suspend next week’s talks with the Mercosur countries on foot of a Russian ban on beef from 27 Brazilian plants, IFA president John Bryan said.

DAIRY farmers should either buy extra quota or destock in the build-up to the end of the quota era in 2015, cautions ICMSA president Jackie Cahill.

President Raul Castro has named a new economy minister, and put the outgoing minister in charge of implementing economic reforms that will be hammered out at a Communist Party Congress.

IFA president John Bryan has said a European Court of Auditors Report raises extremely serious issues regarding shortcomings in the control of meat imports and risks to EU consumers and producers.

MORE than four out of five Irish mobile phone users roaming in the EU use text messaging services — the highest rate of all EU countries.

THE RISE of nationalism movements in Europe could threaten Ireland’s €2bn dairy export business unless the EU rethinks its new labelling proposals, says one leading figure in the dairy industry.

EU sugar reform hit Ireland hard and whether we can recover depends on how cheaply we can produce it, writes Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill