IFA President in Brussels to Meet Farm Leaders on CAP Campaign

IFA President Francie Gorman will meet with other farm leaders from across the EU in Brussels tomorrow and Friday to build support for our CAP campaign.

“The COPA meetings over the next two days will be an opportunity to forge alliances with our colleagues who are also battling to restore CAP funding. I look forward to getting updates about how campaigns are progressing in other countries as we need a collective effort to influence the significant budgetary items that are down for decision between now and December,” he said.

“Wherever you farm across the EU, the message is the same: the CAP budget has to be resolved. As things stand, Ireland stands to lose over €2.5bn from our CAP budget, which would mean a cut of 24%,” he said.

IFA held five regional meetings in the last month to discuss the impact of the CAP proposals for our members.

“At a time when global uncertainty is playing havoc with our costs, any cut to funding would be a devastating outcome for farmers, for food security, for the environment and for rural communities. Irrespective of the other pressures that exist in framing the next overall EU budget (known as the MFF), food security has to remain front and centre,” Francie Gorman said.

“Restoring the CAP budget must be the key priority for the Irish Government, as it currently holds the EU Presidency during this crucial period. They must use this opportunity to steer the debate and achieve an outcome that will provide farmers and the wider rural economy with the resilience needed to tackle the challenges ahead.”

“We have put tangible proposals on the table with our senior politicians, some of them budget neutral, on how the CAP budget can be increased. We need to see these and improvements in CAP allocations in the updated negotiation-box, likely to be delivered by the Irish Presidency in mid-October,” he said.

“I would encourage all farmers to visit the IFA CAP Hub (www.ifa.ie/cap), inform themselves of the scale of the proposed cuts, and how IFA is campaigning to protect Irish family farms. And then to engage with their local, national and European political representatives that it simply isn’t good enough. More CAP funding is needed.”