The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has expressed scepticism over comments from Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) this week.

Speaking yesterday (Monday, September 28) after a meeting of EU agriculture ministers, Minister Heydon said that the talks had brought the EU "another step closer" to a deal on post-2027 CAP.

Minister Heydon said: "Today’s discussion has brought us another step closer to agreeing a CAP that is fit for the future.

"Farmers need a policy that provides stability and a fair income, while giving them the flexibility and support to respond to the challenges ahead," he added.

However, the ICMSA have called on the minister to "urgently clarify" the comments.

ICMSA president Denis Drennan asked: "How is the minister going to deliver this in the context of a proposed reduced CAP budget and...what new policies will be put in place to deliver that stability and fair incomes in a context where the current CAP has spectacularly failed to deliver either?"

The initial proposals from the European Commission in 2025 planned for a cut of some 20% in the overall funding for CAP, along with radical changes to how farm payments operate.

While those proposals have seen considerable criticism from farm organisations, some EU member states - including Ireland - and a majority of the European Parliament, this proposed slashing of the CAP budget has never been officially taken off the table, nor has alternative sources of CAP funding been officially proposed.

The ICMSA called on the minister to outline how the current direction of CAP negotiations is going to address instability of farm incomes, noting that milk prices have fallen by almost 15c/L in one year, while beef prices have fallen by over 80c/kg since this time last year.

"There is no evidence to date from either our government or the EU that they are serious about addressing the chronic volatility within the sector and ICMSA considers it hugely disappointing that Ireland has so far put forward no proposals to deliver the stability and a fair income that Minister Heydon correctly identifies as the absolute minimum that is required," Drennan said.

"The brute reality is that for too long CAP has been asked to meet far too many EU policy objectives, and unlocking that problem is the issue the [council of ministers] should focus on," the ICMSA president added.

"Farmers need to hear Minister Heydon answer the fundamental question on which everything else turns: Is CAP going to be a policy to support food-producing farmers or is it effectively going to become an environmental policy?" Drennan asked.