The nature of farm payments and schemes is up in the air again following the elections to the European Parliament.

The Greens and far right made gains, while the pro-CAP European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political party in Brussels, lost ground.

It may be back to the drawing board for the next CAP.

The outgoing agriculture committee had agreed a proposal on farm payments, but the new committee may want to take a fresh look at things, particularly as the European Parliament has not voted on the package.

That might mean the controversial “full flattening” of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) is off the table, but with Irishman Phil Hogan set to end his term as European Commissioner fpr Agriculture, the Irish farming organisations might like the next set of proposals even less.

There will be a distinctly leftist feel to Ireland’s new crop of MEPs. While Mairead McGuinness was Ireland’s top vote-getter, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both made gains, the range of Green, Sinn Féin and independent MEPs is striking.

With Luke Ming Flanagan and Matt Carthy both re-elected, and left-wingers Mick Wallace and Clare Daly joining them, the number of Irish MEPs the main farm organisations will feel close to has shrunk.

Green candidate Grace O’Sullivan, still in contention as we went to print, has a good knowledge of farming issues. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and IFA president Joe Healy were stressing their common interests on Sunday.

Former Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and current junior Minister Andrew Doyle both had disappointing elections, with neither ever looking like being elected.

The absolute schism in British politics from Brexit was again highlighted.

Nigel Farage’s six-week-old Brexit party had a right old baptism, gaining 29 of the 70 European seats on offer.

In contrast to Ireland, the two main parties saw their vote collapse, with Labour on 10 seats, and Theresa May’s Conservatives a scarcely believable four seats.

The Liberal Democrats and Green Party were the big gainers. Both are anti-Brexit, and hold a combined 23 seats.

In Northern Ireland, the seat held for 30 years by Jim Nicholson, the pro-farmer Ulster Unionist, went to Alliance leader Naomi Long, giving two of the three seats to anti-Brexit candidates.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) could become the first political football kicked around by new MEPs, with the Greens and far-right making gains.

The two groupings that have dominated European politics saw their vote shrink, but the EPP, of which Fine Gael is a member, is still the largest grouping.

They will need the support of more than the Socialist grouping (home of the Irish Labour Party) this time.

However, the likes of the Liberal ALDE group, which contains both Fianna Fáil and the UK Liberal Democrats, are similarly centrist, so there are grounds for hope that the parliament can be functional and stable.

While the Greens captured all the headlines following the local elections, the centre ground actually held, with seat gains for both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

The big loser was Sinn Féin, whose seats almost halved from 159 to 81.

Among the disappointed Sinn Féin candidates was Pat Gilhooley. The former IFA Leitrim county chair was an agonising four votes shy of the final seat in Ballinamore. His counterpart on IFA’s farm business committee, Edel Gahan, also fell short of taking a seat in Wexford.

Joseph Woulfe (independent), chair of the Clare Beef Plan Movement, lost out in the last count in Kilrush.

Cork Fianna Fáil candidate Jason Fitzgerald got knocked out in the fifth count in Kanturk. Fitzgerald is chair of the Irish Farmers with Designated Land (IFDL) and featured in a number of Beef Plan Movement meetings in Cork and Kerry.

Kerry

The Healy Rae clan strengthened its grip in Kerry, adding three “next-gen” councillors to the two TDs. Kenmare Mart manager Dan McCarthy (Independent) was re-elected in Kenmare.

Michael Lowry has a similar grip in North Tipperary, with five seats for his supporters on the county council.

In Mayo, Gerry Loftus (independent), well known from his INHFA duties, did not secure a seat in Castlebar. In neighbouring Galway, Kenneth O’Brien of the forgotten farmer campaign was unsuccessful in Ballinasloe.

In Portlaoise, Fine Gael councillor and dairy farmer Willie Aird had little time to celebrate his re-election, rushing home to milk cows that evening.