Farmers to be compensated for lost exports

IRISH farmers will be able to receive compensation if they have lost export sales as a result of the E coli outbreak, but the amount has yet to be fixed.

A crisis meeting to help EU farmers suffering from the fallout of the contamination that has claimed 26 lives so far agreed that compensation should be available.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who attended the meeting in Luxembourg, said he did not know how many Irish farmers had been affected by the drop off in vegetable sales as a result of countries banning EU produce and consumers fears.