madam president the importance of the eu budget in supporting farm incomes in rural ireland is immense
irish farmers their families rural communities and the irish food sector will continue to benefit from close to eur two billion per annum for the period twenty ten twenty thirteen
this week our minister for agriculture brendan smith announced that the irish government had requested an advance of the single farm payment so as to maximise the cash flow to farmers between now and the end of the year
this is a very welcome and very pragmatic development
i understand that a request by the government will be approved by the council or perhaps has been improved by the council at this stage today and it is expected that payments will commence from eighteen october with the second tranche on one december
the high level of annual funding allocated to the agricultural sector in my country emphasises the importance of these negotiations to ireland and to rural ireland in particular
