As the farmer occupation of the EU information offices in Dublin continued last night, the president of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), Mr Tom Parlon, called for more public money to be put into a £120 million EU scheme.
The Government has offered to pay an additional £20 million in compensation to 25,000 farmers who will lose out when the EU changes aid payments to farmers in disadvantaged areas from livestock-based to acreage payment. However, the EU will not permit this.
Last night Mr Parlon said that the only way round this difficulty was to increase the total payment, made up of 65 per cent EU and 35 per cent national funding, to a position where no farmer would lose.
Seventy thousand farmers will benefit from the new payments, but 25,000 will lose amounts varying from £2,000 to £500. Those hardest hit are believed to be mountain sheep farmers and progressive farmers in less severely disadvantaged areas.
Mr Parlon's suggestion, which was put informally to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, last night, may form a basis for resolving the problem. The dispute is delaying the implementation of other rural development schemes like the Rural Environment Protection Scheme and the Early Retirement Scheme.
Following a meeting between Mr Ahern and the IFA in Dublin on Thursday, proposals to pay the compensation on a phased basis over six years were put to Brussels.
This was rejected by the EU Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler.
The EU believes that the compensatory payments would be viewed by the World Trade Agreement as a direct subsidy rather than a social payment.
A new offer is being prepared over the weekend by the Department of Agriculture and will be put to Mr Fischler by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, on Monday.