EU payments to farmers to be made public on Dept of Agriculture website.
http://www.rte.ie/aertel/114-01.html

The Labour Party and Fine Gael appear to be against this - why, I ask ?

Should all receipiants of public monies be also publisied , dole payments, education grants ?

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Mammy, get the hammer there's a fly on daddy's head.

They are against it for a number of reasons, one being, and a very sensible one, that it would possibly entice criminal behaviour against a farmer who was publicly known to be in reciept of large payments.

On the other hand, I imagine a few farmers aren't best pleased with the public knowledge of what they are recieving because it may put them in a less advantageous negotiating position with various people.. notably.. the other half

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1,197 people agree with me.. how many agree with you ?

I think you will find that it's less than 100 landowners that suck up over 85% of the payments from the EU.

Hardly a very compelling reason. GPs and Dentists have to disclose their GMS payments, and the salaries of all manner or public officials are a matter of public record.

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Countries than produce fewer total CO2 emissions than Ireland:

Bangladesh (Pop. 162m)
Ethiopia (Pop. 80m)
Peru (Pop.30m)


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Indeed. Though there is the issue of privacy, where one is in receipt of legitimate payments from the state. For example, whilst in principle this would be a good idea (and therefore extending it to people on the dole and whatnot) I don't think publishing the fact that Mrs X down the road is in receipt of disability benefit, single mother's allowance, etc would be a good idea on personal grounds and would constitute a pretty significant attack on her privacy.

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Ireland interests are best secured within a more dynamic EU. Vote YES to Lisbon.

Perhaps a solution would be to disclose any state payments a person or business receives over a certain threshold.
The Revenue Commissioners publish names of tax defaulters over a certain amount and nobody has complained about civil liberty infringements yet most of these defaulters haven't been brought to court and tried for any crime.

It would seem an invasion of privacy to be detailing every disability benefit recipient in the country but if a person was receiving state aid above a certain amount it might higlight the few abuses in the system.

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Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there there is no river. - Nikita Khrushchev

Obviously there is a difference between getting hundreds of thousands a year and getting a hundred or so euro a week. It is in the public interest to know who is getting massive hand outs and what the justification for this could be.

The 'public interest' argument is always the best defence for violating individual rights.

The EU shouldn't be using its budget to keep the price of our food high in the first place...my former lecturer tells me that the biggest beneficiary of CAP is Prince Charles of Wales - who owns more land than anyone else in the UK

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I think its a great idea to publish the details of who recieves CAP payments, though I would advocate that it would be publishing details on farmers, a minimum payment threshold would be required.

Publishing the details of who recieves CAP payments will finally dispel the myth that it is farmers, and small farmers at that, which are milking the system. Small farmers receive very little. It is large multinationals and large land holders who recieve the most subsidies. And often they dont need subsidies because they operate large scale production lines and thus benefit from economics of scale and cost efficiences.

The rationale that policy makers argue for supporting CAP is that it helps small farmers, that may be true, BUT it helps those that need no help ALOT more.

This already operates in Northern Ireland http://www.dardni.gov.uk/index/publi...sidy200607.htm
and Britain, and the sky has not fallen yet.

Michael Ring-a-Ding is talking through his posterior about farmers being threatened by hordes of Hiaces, equipped with laptops and Wi-Fi roaming the countryside, and robbbing grant recipients.