Worries as CAP plan goes to Brussels
IRELAND’S CAP plan has been sent to Brussels in a move which has drawn a mixed reaction from farm leaders.
Over recent weeks, the main farming organisations have all lobbied for changes to the plan – some of which have been adopted – to ensure that Irish farmers would retain existing levels of payments.
Connacht IFA Chair, Pat Murphy, said that the IFA had lobbied intensely over the past six months to ensure that the new CAP would not end up taking money out of the rural economy.
“We did succeed in getting a number of changes to the inclusion criteria for the eco element of the basic payment to farmers.
“At least it should mean that more farmers will be able to draw down this money without having to undergo major costs, but it still presents its difficulties.
“The eco element of the payments is money that farmers would have drawn down as a normal part of their basic payment but now it requires specific actions,” said Pat Murphy.
He also said that there were concerns about certain aspects of the BEEP-S (Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme Sucklers) programme and how it would operate after its two-year interim programme.
“What we don’t want to see is a situation whereby suckler farmers end up being worse off than they are at present in terms of support payments.
“Suckler farmers are the very basis of our beef industry, and they need a stronger raft of financial supports over the coming years and certainly not any cuts,” Pat Murphy told the Farming Tribune.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.