In 2019, BPS entitlements to all farmers in Ireland will reach at least 60% of the national average, as agreed in the convergence deal hammered out in the last CAP.

All Irish farmers now receive a payment somewhere between the minimum of €160/ha and the maximum of €700/ha.

The European Commission and Commissioner Phil Hogan have proposed that farmers across Europe reach at least 75% of their national average by 2027.

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Under this proposal, every farm in Ireland would receive entitlements of at least €200/ha. MEPs have voted for a more ambitious target of 100% convergence.

Under their proposal, some 60,654 farmers in Ireland would gain from fully flattened payments by having their entitlements per hectare increased.

However, this would come at a cost to over 50,000 of their fellow farmers, whose entitlements per hectare would be cut to fund the increase.

The 100% convergence move remains a proposal which must be approved by the full European Parliament and the agricultural ministers of Europe before it can be enacted.