Progress made on €100m Brexit beef deal
Announced earlier this week, the EU Commission agreed a Brexit beef package of €50m for Irish beef farmers while the Irish Government expected to provide matching funding of €50m to create a €100m package to cover Brexit beef cuts.
Irish Farmers Association (IFA) national livestock chairman Angus Woods and IFA Brussels director Liam MacHale met with senior officials from Commissioner Hogan’s Cabinet to discuss the details of the package.
Woods said the €100m package is based on the submission IFA made to both the EU Commission and the Department of Agriculture earlier this year to cover the very severe Brexit beef price losses incurred by cattle farmers.
He said: “Commissioner Hogan is very clear. The money needs to be paid out immediately to the beef farmers. The Commission has provided the necessary flexibility so the aid package can be finalised and payments made to farmers as soon as possible.
“When IFA presented our analysis to the Department of Agriculture, they understood and accepted that the case was properly researched and the figures were accurate.”
Woods added the Department of Agriculture have all the data in respect of the losses incurred and the IFA submitted the full details of the analysis and calculations in arriving at the €100m loss package.
“Beef farmers have suffered savage price losses due to Brexit uncertainty and it is a welcome development that the EU Commission has recognised this and responded to the IFA proposal. Beef farmers have major bills to pay to banks, feed merchants and others.”
