Little progress was reported from the harvest crisis fund talks between the IFA and Department of Agriculture officials on Wednesday.

The talks are attempting to undo the impasse that saw farmers occupy Agriculture House for six days.

The protest was motivated by confirmation that the maximum payment under the crisis fund would be €5,000 rather than the expected €15,000. The sit-in ended on Tuesday evening to allow talks “without preconditions” take place.

Initial top-level talks between IFA president Joe Healy and director general Damian McDonald with Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and Department secretary general Aidan O’Driscoll took place on Wednesday morning, and set the ground rules for adjustments to the scheme’s criteria.

The atmosphere was described as business-like as both sides attempted to move past the unrest of previous days. Talks to work through the details resumed on Wednesday afternoon between department officials and members of the grain committee, led by chair Liam Dunne.

The previous draft had been approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform before it was rejected by farmers. It’s unclear whether a revised scheme would require a renewed approval from Paschal Donohoe’s Department

Funding for the scheme had been set at €1.5m. This would accommodate 300 farmers at a cap of €5,000/head. Whether it would be sufficient to cover all qualifying farmers at the higher €15,000 threshold is open to question, although IFA negotiators were reporting quite restrictive criteria other than the threshold.

Survey

An IFA survey carried out last autumn found 245 farmers had suffered serious losses, quantified at almost €4m. The scheme will only apply to farmers who are predominantly tillage farmers, and who suffered losses on a significant proportion of their crop. The previous proposals required 30% of total crop to have been effectively lost.

If talks fail, IFA president Joe Healy made it clear that protests could resume.

He described Tuesday as a “suspension” of direct action by farmers, and warned that an outcome had to be found. It was clear as we went to print that no outcome was likely to emerge on Wednesday.

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Full coverage: tillage crisis fund