The revelation that John Magnier is to invest in the 800ac Rockwell Farm is hardly a shock, being only across the ditch from Coolmore.

In fact, when the former agricultural college’s farm came on the market late last year, many expected its’ scale and quality to attract the attention of both Magnier and his nemesis Maurice Regan.

What might surprise some is the plan to not only maintain the large dairy herd currently in Rockwell, but to expand it to beyond 1,000 cows.

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The 60-unit rotary parlour already in place will cope with a herd that size.

It’s a vote of confidence in the dairy sector from one of the country’s richest people and most successful business brains. However, coming so closely on the heels of Leo Varadkar’s provocative and divisive comments about urban taxpayers supporting farming subsidies and supports, I wouldn’t be surprised if the news is regarded with a degree of cynicism about billionaires benefiting from supports to build enormous farms.

That is a massive over-simplification; the farm will be limited to a maximum of €60,000 a year in direct payments under current CAP proposals.

However, such a perception does chip away at public support for CAP.

Meanwhile, the level of supports for smaller farms was highlighted last week when it emerged that a candidate in the Dublin Central by-election was in receipt of over €6,000 in direct payments annually.

Fianna Fáil’s John Stephens and his wife Simone Clifford are listed as receiving over €6,700 in the 2024 payments publication year. The CRISS payment of €416.58 they received indicates a holding of around 9ha (22ac).

This story broke in relation to John Stephens’ alleged non-disclosure of his farming income in his ethics declaration as a member of Dublin City Council.

However, for farming, the question is more about the public perception of a Dublin-based couple who seem to own no more than 20 acres of farmland, which they don’t carry out significant farm activity on, being in receipt of almost €7,000 in a calendar year.

There is no suggestion that John Stephens did anything other than participate in schemes for which he was eligible. The question is more whether the system is in need of review. Full-time family farmers who have seen their direct payments cut by over one-third in recent years, and who are facing further significant cuts in the upcoming CAP reform, might well be asking the same question.

The danger is that part-time farmers who are working hard on-and-off-farm will be the baby thrown out with the bath water, and see their payments removed. Comments reported by Noel Bardon elsewhere in these pages, both from a senior European Commission official and from Europrean Commissioner Christophe Hansen as stated by Minister Martin Heydon, only add to such concerns.