A €300 million-plus package to entice farmers to participate in the new social partnership programme is to be voted on today by the Irish Farmers' Association.
The deal is being recommended by the organisation's leadership, following late-night negotiations with the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, on Monday. It opens the way for farmers to sign up to Sustaining Progress, the three-year programme agreed between the Government and the other social partners in February.
Employers, unions and a number of community and voluntary groups formally endorsed the deal last month.
Farm groups rejected the initial proposals for the sector as inadequate and had looked set to remain outside the partnership process en bloc for the first time. Following intensive negotiations in recent weeks, however, a deal emerged in the talks late on Monday, attended by both Minister Walsh, the IFA president, Mr John Dillon, and senior officials. The Department of the Taoiseach was also involved.
Mr Dillon said yesterday the deal provided for improvements in a number of key schemes and he would recommend its acceptance at today's meeting of the IFA's national council.
Details of the deal were not being disclosed, but it is understood to include a substantial increase in the budget for the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) from next January. An improved on-farm investment scheme, which assists farmers in developing waste management systems, is also included in the package.
A spokesman for Mr Walsh said a final document had been sent to the farm bodies for decision and he expected that they would accept it.
It remained uncertain, however, that the IFA council would endorse the package at its meeting in Dublin today.
Despite the leadership's decision to recommend the deal, it is likely to prove contentious and a source said considerable opposition was expected.
A second farm body, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association, says it has decided "on balance" to enter social partnership.
At a meeting yesterday, its national council said the deal as it stood fell "significantly short" of what was required to deal with declining farm incomes.
The organisation's president, Mr Pat O'Rourke, said he would continue to seek increases in the REPS payments and on-farm grant schemes. "I intend to vigorously pursue each individual commitment and other issues with the relevant Ministers and Government departments," he said. "Our decision today on social partnership is a means to an end and that end is significantly improved farm incomes."
Department and farm organisation spokesmen declined to put a value on the package yesterday. However, proposals previously on offer were valued by Mr Walsh at €300 million, so the deal is expected to at least that figure.
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