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Fianna Fáil spokesperson for agriculture Charlie McConalogue has committed to putting a solution in place that is fair to forgotten farmers in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
“The boat sailed on them in the last CAP and the next CAP needs to redress that,” McConalogue said.
Roughly, 4,000 farmers missed out on young farmer payments in the last CAP because they had started farming in their own right before 2015.
Last year, the European Commission ruled that member states could back-date Young Farmers Scheme payments to solve the forgotten farmer issue, but the changes were not adopted in Ireland.
One of the farmers affected, Kenneth O’Brien, said that many forgotten farmers feel discriminated against.
“We have to make sure that we’re a priority for the next CAP and not left out again,” O’Brien said.
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