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An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has made a commitment to defend the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget.
The withdrawal of the UK from the EU will mean the funding supplied by the UK to CAP will have to be made up by other countries if it is to be maintained at its current level.
Shortfall
Many farmers fear that the shortfall caused by the UK withdrawal will mean a cut to their payments.
Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships in Carlow, Varadkar said: “We’re against any cut in the budget.
“We’re one of the countries that is saying we’re actually willing to pay more into the budget if programmes that have worked well like CAP and Horizon are well funded.”
Convincing
“The job is to convince other countries of the same, but I think I’ve built up lot of good contacts and goodwill over the last two years.
“So I’ll be using that goodwill and political capital to defend the budget.”
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