EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler was in Dublin on Thursday and met the agricultural press to explain his new CAP reforms. While the commission's invitation to the hacks had indicated that "light refreshments" would be served, not even the Commissioner who is engaged in one of the greatest cost-cutting exercises seen in the EU could quite cope with the office's interpretation of "light". Consequently there was much teasing of both officials and Commissioner along the lines that the plates of sandwiches and nibbles on offer indicated lean times ahead for Ireland.
The director of the EU office in Dublin, Colm Larkin, was moved into apologising to the hacks for the lack of food and the Commissioner himself said he could not believe that he had not been served beef. Every time he or any of his colleagues come to Ireland, they are fed large quantities of beef to prove its purity.