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The €100m Brexit beef compensation fund announced by the European Commission will be an important boost to the sector, Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) beef chair Edmund Graham has said.
“This will be an important boost to a sector that has absolutely been hammered. ICSA analysis had shown that Brexit was costing beef farmers up to €4m per week on the prime cattle kill and we strongly argued that these losses could not be carried,” he said.
There will be some conditions attached
"There will be some conditions attached to this and we await the detail on this. However, it is important to acknowledge the efforts of the minister and his officials and also the work of Commissioner Hogan in extracting €50m in exceptional funds from Commissioner Oettinger.
“The other €50m is to be co-funded by the Exchequer."
Graham said that the ICSA met Commissioner Phil Hogan in Brussels in April and he committed to asking the European budget commissioner for Brexit funds.
“We also lobbied Minister Creed repeatedly over recent months to outline the urgency of a payment to the beef farming sector,” he said.
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