Irish pig farmers are to receive their share of the EU aid package announced last September in the coming week, according to the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney.
Under the aid package, a €27.4m aid payment was made to Irish dairy and pig farmers, with pig farmers to receiving €1m of this funding.
“A direct aid package payment will issue in the coming week to all pig farmers in Ireland with a minimum level of supply of 200 pigs slaughtered in 2015.
“This means a flat rate payment of over €3,000 to each farmer. This will ensure that the payment is directed to those farmers most affected by price volatility, thus meeting the requirements of the EU Regulations providing the funding.”
While the aid payments are to issue to pig farmers in the coming week, their dairying counterparts received their share of the package, some €26m, before Christmas.
I am conscious of the fact that prices have come under pressure over the last year and a half and the difficulties that this is causing for producers.
“This is not an exclusively Irish phenomenon, and Irish prices have actually remained ahead of the EU average for the last five months.
“However I would also add that like any other EU Minister I do not have a role in the setting of prices. This is a function of the market.”
Furthermore, the Minister said that the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, has reiterated his determination to promote the EU’s interests and open up new markets for EU products, with a specific €30m envelope for dairy and pigmeat available under the EU Promotion Scheme to reflect the market disturbances in those sectors.
“Ireland, through Bord Bia, will be making an application for a proportion of this funding in the very near future,” the Minister confirmed.