Agriculture spending to increase by €3.5m

The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Joe Walsh, today announced an estimate provision of €1.22bn for his department for 2003.

The net allocation for the Department of Agriculture and Food for 2003 is €842.2m.

This is an increase of €3.5m on last year. Minister Walsh, pointed out that his department is also responsible for the payment of the order of a further €1.6bn on EU funded agricultural measures, including direct payments to farmers, which is not included in the estimates.

Total spending by the Department in 2003 should be €2.8bn.