Intensive talks on the agriculture elements of a new national partnership programme are to begin today, with a view to finalising a deal by the weekend.
However, a major gap exists between the Government and the farm bodies over the level of funding required for rural development programmes over the next seven years. It is understood the Government has committed funding of €5.7 billion for a range of schemes, but farm leaders say this is €2 billion short of what is required.
Following a meeting between farm organisations and Government officials yesterday, the Irish Farmers' Association said the talks had received "a new impetus".
Attempts to bridge the gap between the sides will take place at meetings today, Friday and Saturday. It is hoped that by then a deal on all the other elements of a new programme, to succeed Sustaining Progress, will have been completed.
Employers, unions and the Government have almost concluded a deal on the pay and workplace elements of the programme, including measures to underpin employment standards.
Further talks, also involving the community and voluntary sector, will take place this afternoon, focusing on the wider social and economic aspects of a potential 10-year agreement.
Those talks were to have taken place yesterday but were postponed due to the death of former taoiseach Charles Haughey.
IFA president Padraig Walshe said yesterday his preference would have been for the agriculture chapter to be concluded at the same time as a general agreement. But he claimed the Government's current proposals for agriculture were "woefully inadequate".
Mr Walshe said that while wage increases in the new programme would cover a 27-month period, the rural development plan at the core of the agriculture negotiations would run until 2013. "The Government must keep this in mind when making the difficult choices on public expenditure," he said.
Programmes such as the Rural Environment Protection Scheme, the early retirement scheme and disadvantaged area payments are among those for which farm bodies are seeking additional funding.
They argue that a total of €7.7 billion is needed over seven years to ensure existing supports are maintained, given that EU funding for these programmes will be reduced.
Negotiations on the new agreement began in early February and have been the longest since the first social partnership programme was negotiated in 1987.
The basic pay elements of the deal have already been concluded and will give workers a 10 per cent increase, in four phases, over 27 months. An employment standards package will include new legislation to deter employers from making people redundant for the purpose of replacing them with cheaper labour.
