A second day of EU talks aimed at reaching a deal on a new sugar regime broke up without agreement.
A group of 11 countries remain opposed to a 39 per cent cut in the price of sugar, which they say will cost thousands of jobs.
Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan insisted last night that Ireland was still opposed to the deal on the table, which would offer Irish farmers 10 per cent of the total compensation available to the Republic. The rest, some €130 million, would go to Greencore, which owns the last remaining Irish sugar factory in Mallow, Co Cork.
The IFA has warned that a reduction in the sugar price would cost more than 3,500 jobs, and decimate the industry in the Republic.