Since joining the EU in 1973 billions of pounds have come into Irish agriculture. In the first year of membership there were direct payments of £37.1 million. By 1981, it was £365 million.
In 1985 it was £836 million. It had reached the billion-pound mark in 1990 and currently stands at £1.5 billion.
Last year the Irish taxpayer contributed just over £200 million to support our largest industry, which generates almost one-third of our total foreign earnings and supports, directly or indirectly, 340,000 jobs.
A breakdown of where our money went shows Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, received £37.2 million, £28.6 million went to the Farm Development Service, just over £35 million was spent on the bovine TB eradication scheme, £8.2 million on BSE compensatory and rendering schemes and £50.8 million on headage payments on animals.
We paid £16 million towards the Early Retirement Scheme, the EU paid 75 per cent, and £32 million went to the Rural Environment Protection Scheme which is similarly funded. Finally, £6 million went to An Bord Bia to help sell Irish agricultural products at home and abroad.