Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on EU budget summit: The European council has concluded without an agreement on the new EU budget for the next 7 years. No date has been set for a follow up meeting.
"I very clearly outlined the position of Ireland which is that as a wealthy prosperous economically successful European country we are willing to contribute more to the budget over the next seven years, but not if that meant payments to Irish farmers...
"...and important programmes like regional development, social development and Interreg were cut back. These programmes, particularly the Common Agricultural Policy, are essential for the incomes of farmers, also for the rural economy, for regional development.
"And if we’re going to be asking farmers and the agri food sector to do more to combat climate change we can’t at the same time expect them to accept being paid less. So I took a very strong position on this as did many like minded countries across the European Union.
"This matter is going to be revisited in a few weeks’ time."
