The Government isn’t doing enough with regard to a Mercosur trade deal, according to farmers in Monaghan ICSA.

Issues including the CAP budget, Brexit and a Mercosur deal were all discussed at a meeting on Monday evening.

ICSA national livestock chairman Edmund Graham told the meeting that the ICSA visited Brussels last week and lobbied MEPs about the consequences that a Mercosur trade deal would have on Irish beef producers.

He also told the meeting that the ICSA are calling for a “complete overhaul of the current grading system in conjunction with a review of the current technology used in the grading cameras”.

“How many people in this room has a 20-year-old mobile phone in their pocket. This is the technology that the factories are using and it isn’t acceptable that farmers are being asked to put up with this.”

An interesting discussion took place around the capping of the single farm payment under the next CAP. ICSA Connaght/Ulster vice president Jim Harrison spoke of the difficult decision that had to be made and said: “It was similar to putting a pair of shoes on the floor and trying to expect them to fit everyone perfectly.

“The fact that 80% of the payments go to 20% of the farmers is not acceptable and something needs to change.”

There were calls from farmers on the floor for future payments to be capped at €50,000.