About 50 farmers are staging a sit-in at the European Commission offices in Dublin to protest about plans to cut the EU’s budget for agriculture.
The demonstration is being organised by the Irish Farmers Association, to coincide with talks by heads of government tonight in Brussels on the overall EU budget from 2014-2020.
The farmers entered the building on Molesworth Street just after 4pm and said they would stay for the duration of the Brussels talks. A spokesman said it was a peaceful demonstration and farmers were preparing for a long sit-in.
Last week European Council president Herman van Rompuy proposed a €25 billion cut to the agriculture budget, leading to claims from IFA that Ireland could lose as much as €1 billion between 2014 and 2020.
IFA president John Bryan said the proposals would be very damaging for agriculture and must be strongly rejected. "There is a danger of unravelling a Common Agricultural Policy that has worked for over 50 years for food producers and consumers. It delivers high quality food to Europe's 500 million consumers at reasonable prices, while meeting the highest food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards".
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