EU farm payments in the UK show rich farmers and companies benefit most, writes Ronan McGreevy
FARMERS MAY not be happy with the decision to have the money they receive in EU payments put into the public domain, but other professions have had to come to terms with it as a matter of course.
Doctors, pharmacists, dentists, barristers and solicitors are all subject to full public disclosure of earnings coming from the State.
Every year the amount of money paid out to GPs under the medical card scheme is published, along with the names of individual doctors. Pharmacists and dentists are subject to similar arrangements.
Payments made through the civil and criminal legal aid scheme are also a matter of public record.
Grants made to fishermen or fishing organisations are disclosed in BIM's annual report.
The payment of EU subsidies to farmers has long been a controversial issue.
The issue of public disclosure was first taken up by the former UK Labour Party aide Jack Thurston, an adviser on agriculture, in 2000. He galvanised journalists across the EU to press their own governments to publish the list of subsidies.
The result was a new financial regulation, adopted in 2006, which sets out the principle that member states have to ensure the publication of a list of all recipients of all forms of EU agricultural and rural development funds for each financial year.
To date the disclosures have confirmed the suspicions of those who believe that EU farm subsidies are more of a benefit to rich farmers and companies than they are to poor ones.
Figures obtained in the UK revealed that the huge food conglomerate Tate and Lyle received more than €500 million in subsidies between 2002 and 2005.
The royal family in Britain obtained more than €1 million in the same period.
Closer to home, information already disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act has shown that a company owned by millionaire beef supplier Larry Goodman was the biggest recipient under the Single Payment Scheme, receiving €508,390.
The second biggest recipient was a farm owned by the food company Kepak.
The European Commission said that Ireland received €2 billion in agriculture and rural development funds every year and that the public was entitled to accountability.
Funding to non-farming organisations and/or individuals in receipt of EU grants is already subject to public disclosure.