Back in July, I exclusively reported that former IFA Brussels director Michael Treacy had landed himself a gig as an adviser to EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan. Well to say that I was accosted following that would be an understatement.

Some people went to great lengths just to say how wrong I was. Well, I can reconfirm now that I was right. Treacy has been appointed as special adviser to Big Phil and his remit is one of serious interest. It is also most suited to a man of Treacy’s stature, political nous as well as his proven moving and shaking abilities.

Treacy has a track record longer than the road from Dublin to Brussels on shaping and influencing policy at a European level.

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He will advise Hogan on structural reform in the EU farm sector.

With climate change reforms hurtling down the road faster than perhaps some of us would care to admit, structural changes on Irish and European farms is likely to become more of an issue

Treacy will not sit on Hogan’s cabinet but rather has a roving brief which will find him in all places from Connemara to Croatia.

These special adviser roles are reserved for real heavyweights in the political world.

Phil Hogan’s predecessor, Romania’s Dacian Ciolos, has been appointed special adviser on food security to the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.

Ciolos is very familiar with Ireland’s farmers as he is the architect of the current CAP reforms.