Ireland’s share of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from the EU budget may come under pressure once the UK leaves the EU, Research Officer with Teagasc, Trevor Donnellan has said.

Speaking to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture Committee yesterday he said that the EU budget was probably under pressure anyway before the Brexit vote earlier this year.

“In the recessionary period in recent years Member States were evaluating what they’re getting out of the [EU budget].

“With the UK leaving, the immediate question is if the EU will operate with a smaller budget or whether other Member States will be asked to increase their contribution to the EU budget.”

If you were to guess, I think that Member States won’t be willing to increase their contribution because there will be a squabble as to who will have to provide the most money to the EU budget.

Donnellan said that when when you look within the EU budget to the CAP, it is probably 42-43% of the total budget and there’s pressure to reduce the share of the EU budget that the CAP holds.

“On the one hand Ireland has to look at increasing its contribution to the EU budget and on the other we’ll need to look at how much we’re going to get back.

“If the EU budget is getting smaller and there’s pressure to reduce the share of the budget that goes to the CAP and on top of that further pressures to equalise the amount of money going to Member States, you would have to come to the conclusion that Ireland’s share of the CAP may come under pressure.”

If Member States can be convinced to increase their contribution to the EU budget, that would leave Ireland in a somewhat difficult position, Donnellon said.