An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he expects there to be an agricultural package “of some sort” for farmers in this year's budget.

Speaking at Fine Gael's think-in at the Strand Hotel in Limerick on Friday, the Taoiseach added that he will explore measures that will help farmers affected by the cut to the derogation.

"The budget isn't decided yet and I know when it comes to budget day, the Minister for Agriculture [Charlie McConalogue] will put forward a lot of proposals to help lots of different farmers in lots of different parts of farming, but none of that has been decided yet.

"I'm sure there will be an agricultural package of some sort as part of the budget as there always is," Varadkar said.

Farm organisations

Ahead of a meeting with the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) to discuss the derogation, Varadkar said that he hopes to build new partnerships with farm organisations in the months ahead.

The dialogue, he said, with farm organisations in recent times hasn't been working and it needs to change.

"Derogation is what it is, unfortunately, because water quality did not improve adequately. We are going from 250kg to 220kg in a lot of areas.

"What I'm keen to talk to them [IFA] about is whether there's an opening for some flexibility around that from the European Commission.

"I don't know if there is, but I certainly want to explore that and also what other measures we can put in place to help farmers manage the transition," he said.