Minister Must Push For More Flexibility on CAP Deal 

_{Tim Cullinan pictured in Luxembourg this morning with Christiane Lambert, President of COPA COGECA and FNSEA}

IFA President Tim Cullinan is in Luxembourg today, where Minister Charlie McConalogue is attending an EU Council of Ministers meeting to consider the provisional CAP agreement announced in Brussels on Friday.

“The combined effects of the provisional deal will devastate a cohort of farmers in Ireland. This will have a knock-on effect on the wider sector that will be very damaging for the rural economy,” he said.

“This provisional agreement is a bad deal for Irish farmers and a bad deal for the rural economy. Minister Charlie McConalogue has to secure more flexibility to mitigate the negative impact of some of the measures,” he said.

“The Irish Government will have to honour their commitments on maximum national co-financing, and on the €1.5bn from the Carbon Tax Fund to protect the viability of tens of thousands of farmers,” he said.