Farmer anger over changes to the nitrates derogation and scheme payment dates resulted in the IFA staging a two-day protest at the Fianna Fáil think-in in Tipperary this week.

Rotating in shifts, hundreds of farmers attended the protest at the Horse and Jockey Hotel to voice their concerns on both matters, with issues in the sheep and tillage sectors also highlighted.

IFA president Tim Cullinan demanded a sit-down meeting inside the hotel with An Tánaiste Micheál Martin on Monday morning and refused to talk to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue on the day.

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Following a heated exchange outside the hotel with both the minister and Tánaiste, it was agreed that a meeting would take place inside the hotel. Jackie Cahill TD and Senator Paul Daly also attended the meeting.

Micheál Martin said the talks were constructive and that the Government would try to alleviate pressures for farmers who will suffer as a result of the cut to the derogation.

However, he noted that retaining the derogation for 2026 would be a big challenge.

Cahill told the Irish Farmers Journal that the battle is now over for keeping the derogation at 250kg N/ha and that the next battle is keeping the derogation at 220kg N/ha.

“In my view, I don’t see the Environment Commissioner revisiting this. He was intransigent in his view that he wasn’t taking the issue back to his committee in Brussels,” Cahill said.

However, Cullinan is of the opinion that an opportunity to make a case to the European Commission in person and keep the derogation in place at 250kg N/ha is still possible.

The IFA will stage another protest outside the Strand Hotel in Limerick on Friday where Fine Gael’s annual think-in is set to take place. It confirmed it would not be protesting at the Green Party think-in on the same day.