The controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform package will be debated in the European Parliament tomorrow as moves continue to find a compromise deal.
The main opposition to the mid-term review reform is being led by the French government, which is totally opposed to Dr Franz Fischler's plan to decouple production from direct payments.
Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands have been supporting the French drive against the far-reaching reforms that could badly hit the French agricultural economy, which benefits more than any other EU country from the CAP.
However, over the last week as pressure has increased on the French and an element of confusion crept into the negotiations, Commission officials were claiming that France was prepared to compromise on its not-an-inch stance.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, has maintained his position that decoupling and modulation, that is transferring savings from the direct payments area to rural development schemes, is not in Ireland's best interest.
However, following a series of meetings on the margins of last week's farm ministers' meeting in Brussels, Commission officials were claiming that Ireland's opposition was weakening towards the proposals.
That was based on counter proposals put forward by the largest Irish farm organisation, the Irish Farmers' Association, which expressed opposition to full decoupling but indicated that a high level of farming activity on farms should be demanded by the Commission to qualify for the new annual one-off payment based on agricultural production in the years 2000-2002.
Irish farmers fear that in five years' time Europe's taxpayers may demand to know why farmers are being paid for not producing, which is a possibility under the Fischler proposals which do not stipulate a minimum level of production to qualify for the payment.
The parliament's agriculture committee has put forward hundreds of amendments to the Fischler plan and a lively debate is expected.
Most Irish MEPs, with the exception of the Green Party, are opposed in one form or another to the proposals.
Department of Agriculture and Food officials were indicating last week that it could take two more meetings of European ministers to resolve the issue, especially if the French are in a mood to compromise.