DETAILS OF individual EU payments to Irish farmers were taken down from the Department of Agriculture’s website hours after a European Court of Justice decision on the issue.
The court declared portions of the regulations, which forced member states to publish the amounts paid to individual farmers, were in breach of the fundamental right to the protection of personal data.
The case had been taken to the German courts by a farmer and a German agribusiness company and was passed on by the German courts to the European Court of Justice to examine its validity.
The court found that while it was true in a democratic society taxpayers had a right to be kept informed of the use made of public funds, a balance had to be struck with the right to privacy, and the data being published went beyond what was necessary to achieve the legitimate aims behind publication.
Following the ruling yesterday morning, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement it was taking immediate legal advice in relation to the consequence of the full judgment. “In the meantime, the department has withdrawn access to the Cap beneficiaries database of their website pending further consultation with the EU Commission,” it added.
The decision was applauded by the farm organisations. The Irish Farmers Association’s deputy president, Eddie Downey, said the ruling confirmed the IFA’s strongly-held view that publication of payment details to individuals was a step too far and was a breach of confidentiality.
“The court found that for individuals benefiting from aid under the Cap, it does not appear that the EU Council and the EU Commission sought to strike a proportionate balance between the protection of the personal data of individual farmers and the publication of information,” he said.
The general secretary of Irish Creameries Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Ciaran Dolan, said the ruling declared invalid the law on which Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith had relied in publishing details and amounts paid to farming families. He said it completely exposed both the European Commission and European Council.
He said these European institutions had trampled on the fundamental rights of farmers to satisfy the unjust and unwarranted curiosity of third parties and on behalf of the ICMSA he complimented Mr Smith for removing the information from the website.
Ireland East MEP Maireád McGuinness said the judgment would mean the EU will have to revisit the controversial issue of publication of payments.
The European Court also said countries which had already published lists of beneficiaries of EU funding “cannot allow any action to be brought to challenge the effects of the publication” despite its judgment.