Opposition is hardening to the recommencement of publication of all farmers’ direct payments. The EU wants to reintroduce online publication of payments, with new legislation permitting publication for the 2015 fiscal year, which started last October, and encompasses all 2014 single payments.

The Department is required to give details of all those in receipt of more than €1,250 by 31 May.

On Tuesday, the IFA’s national council saw huge opposition to the plan, with concerns expressed about the safety of farm families if names, addresses and the amount received in payments is made available online. There are also issues about whether the publication of payments would be in breach of data protection rules.

At Wexford IFA’s monthly meeting on Monday, one farmer offered to bring a legal case against the publication of payments. It was a legal challenge from two individual German farmers, supported by their farming organisation, that brought down the previous publication of payments.

Payments made to all farmers were first published in 2008. They covered not just the Single Farm Payment, but also REPS, the Disadvantaged Area Scheme, and grant schemes such as the Farm Waste Management Scheme and TAMS.

This ceased for all sole trader payment recipients in 2010. At present, only limited companies that are CAP beneficiaries have their details shared publicly. A database exists on the Department of Agriculture’s website with information for 2012 and 2013.

MEP Sean Kelly described publication of payments as “divisive” and said the issue should be revisited. “I also believe that it will lead to an erosion of support for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy.”

ICMSA president John Comer said that a publicly accessible register of direct payments was “a clear breach of the ordinary standards of privacy that every EU citizen had a right to expect”. He also feared that it will be an aid to criminals targeting rural areas.