EU farm payments row erupts

THE PUBLIC disclosure by the EU of what farmers receive in payments will set them up as targets for "Tiger" style ransoms and kidnappings, a farm leader has claimed.

Jackie Cahill, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), described the disclosure, from September, as a "breach of ordinary privacy".

"We have as well the threat of 'Tiger' style ransoms and kidnappings, which will be perfectly facilitated by the kind of details that the commission intends posting up there for anyone to check", said Mr Cahill.

He made his remarks in a statement attacking what he termed "the brass bloody neck" of MEPs who he says will not reveal their own expenses.

Another farm organisation, the Irish Cattle and Sheepowners' Association, also called for a deferral of the system of electronic transfer of monies to farmers which becomes mandatory this year.

"The cheque in the post must continue for the time being. A significant number of older and smaller scale farmers have no bank account and are not equipped to deal with this. This is an example of another directive . . . that takes no account of the reality on the ground," the organisation said at the weekend.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times