Coughlan objects to farm payment cap

AGRICULTURE Minister Mary Coughlan has told her fellow EU ministers she is not in favour of most of the European Commission’s plans to change the union’s annual €48.5 billion farm budget, including capping the amount of money any one farmer could receive.

The only proposal she welcomed was an increase in the amount of milk dairy farmers could produce. She believed her request for a 3% increase in Ireland’s quota would be granted for next April.

She joined the British and Germans in opposing a proposal to reduce payments to anybody getting more than €100,000 a year in EU aid. Beef baron Larry Goodman is Ireland’s largest recipient. while Britain’s royal family is among that country’s biggest beneficiaries.