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MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, today welcomed what he described as a “very helpful step forward” in the Common Agricultural Policy reform negotiations.
He said EU agriculture ministers broadly supported most proposals tabled by the Irish Presidency relating to distribution of payments.
EU agriculture ministers today held a comprehensive discussion on a package of proposals tabled by the Irish Presidency dealing with the issue of how to distribute direct payments within member states.
The Department of Agriculture said the package aims to give more flexibility to member states as they try to reconcile the need for greater convergence in payments with the need to ensure that any new arrangements are consistent with their individual farming conditions.
Speaking today, Coveney said he was pleased that his European counterparts showed a readiness to move forward on the issue of how to distribute direct payments.
The department said the overall tenor was “very supportive of the approach adopted by the Presidency”, though in some cases that support was conditional on progress in other areas, or on further improvements to the text.
However President of the Irish Farmers’ Association, John Bryan, said the proposals “still represent unacceptable cuts for thousands of Irish farmers”.
Bryan said the outcome of today’s meeting “sends a strong message to Commissioner Ciolos demanding flexibility, with some member states insisting they are not prepared to accept the imposition of flat-rate payments, which would be very damaging to production in every part of Ireland”.
Coveney said the council also had a “very productive exchange of views” on the issue of the mislabelling of meat products. He said they agreed that the EU-wide nature of the problem required an EU-wide response, and stressed that recent efforts to deal with the controversy would continue.
I seriously hope that the idiot who passed me and 3 others cars on double white lines on the N2 last Sunday reads this.
The car was going that fast I couldn’t get the number.
The speeding and passing out on that road it unbelievable.
@Kappa: I think that’s a big issue – the disconnect between behavior and the consequences.
We constantly hear that someone died on the road. We never hear the why.
So as a driver it is easy to separate our actions behind the wheel and possible outcomes.
Like above, the car hit a tree and they both died which s dreadful but how can such a thing happen and how do I avoid it? There’s no lesson to take away bar the usual generic slow down and don’t drink & drive which fall on deaf ears.
Fatal accident on N2 yesterday was a suspected non national drunk driver, he was killed. Three vehicles involved. Two innocent people now in critical condition.
Full details will become public knowledge in due course. Locals well aware of what occurred.
This should be broadcast on all Irish channels at the same time.
I’d rather watch something about the cosmos. There’s so much out there to discover.
@Hello there. What a sad little existence you must lead. What you going to do when twitter shut down your means of hiding so you can troll?
I’ll cry :-)
I was passed on the ballyragget road in kilkenny by a fool in a supervalu van on his mobile over took me as a tractor approached , I reported this to supervalu and nothing happened , I have now reported to gardai hopefully this fool will be caught before he bn kills some one…
I think we should get the figures for the last decade of what was deemed the cause of accidents. Then increase the resourcing of prevent the causes and tell the public why. People caught speeding always seem to say it is a money making exercise, people say cyclists are a huge danger, roads are dangerous, etc… Let’s see the actual figures. I suspect it driver behaviour more than people will admit
@Kal Ipers: I would say that almost certainly, the vast majority of fatal accidents in Ireland are caused by driver error and driver choices.
Part of the problem is the very natural human feeling of compassion for the victims. The horrifying story of a young woman dying with her son is going to make anyone feel sympathy. So there’s a way to talk about it. “their car hit a tree”. It’s an event that comes like lightning out of the sky. It’s callous and cruel to look closer at why the car hit the tree. It would cause those already suffering even more pain. However, if people aren’t willing to look openly and clearly at why accidents happen, and why the causes are not accidental, but the choices people make, then there can’t be significant improvement.
The Irish record on road safety is much worse than the UK. Rural Ireland is worse than Dublin. Donegal is very, very bad indeed. This is partly due to the type of roads, and their condition, but it’s mostly due to the Irish driver, who routinely does things that in the long term will kill someone.
@Julian West: Sorry Julian, just reading your comment after I posted mine.
You said it better than me and I couldn’t agree more.
@Julian West: Hate to break it to you they do investigate these things either way. I am suggesting they publish the results in the form of stats to let the public know he truth.
@Julian.Great post.
Heartbreaking to watch and should be required viewing for anybody who is learning to drive a car.on a side note to all the whingers who complain about RTE in fairness to them they have produced two powerful programmes in the last few days on this subject and the hospital waiting lists.
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