The fund of €100 million aimed at Irish beef farmers that was agreed upon by the European Commission “will be rolled out as soon as possible”, according to Fine Gael MEP candidate for Ireland South, Andrew Doyle.

The fund was agreed between the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, and Minister of State Andrew Doyle, during a meeting in Brussels this week.

Commenting on the agreement, Minister Doyle said: “I now look forward to convening a meeting with representatives from the beef sector, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, so we can discuss the technical details of this package.

I hope to also discuss how we will implement it and how we can roll out this financial support as soon as possible.

“The European Commission acknowledged the case for aid required, which has consistently been put forward by the Minister for Agriculture and myself,” he said.

“The package agreed allows for €50 million to be provided by the Irish Government and the other €50 million to be provided by the commission,” he explained.

Irish beef farmers have suffered income losses over the past two years as a result of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

Concluding, Andrew Doyle said: “This is really good news for the Irish beef sector as we can now offer some security to beef farmers who have had to endure significant strain over the past couple of years.”