An Irish farm organisation has said that the European Commission "must be stopped from dismantling" the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) was responding to apparent plans from the European Commission to scrap the standalone budget for CAP as part of wider efforts to consolidate its various funding streams.

The commission is understood to be planning a radical overhaul of the EU budget – the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – as part of which the commission is planning to merge its various funding programmes into a smaller number of funds, which would be allocated all together to member states.

This could not only see the merging of funding for both pillars of CAP, but potentially also the end of ringfenced funding for CAP, farm organisations have warned.

Sean McNamara, the ICSA president, said: "Agriculture cannot be sacrificed to pay for other EU priorities like defence and security. Food security cannot be taken for granted. Our farmers are on the frontline, and they must be supported, not sidelined.

He added: "This is potentially the most dangerous threat to the CAP in a generation. Food security is just as vital as defence, and frontline food producers must not be left footing the bill for every other EU priority."

"The commission appear to be hellbent on dismantling the CAP, but a strong, separate CAP budget is the bare minimum we need. It must also be increased to reflect rising costs and restore its value which has been more than halved by inflation" he said.

McNamara said he is also alarmed by the commission’s plans to publish its vision for the post-2027 CAP at the same time as the EU’s new MFF. Both proposals are expected to be put forward in July.

"There has been no engagement with farmers on what the next CAP should look like. It makes no sense to bring out major plans for the future of CAP without talking to farmers first. Doing it alongside the EU budget also feels very premature," he said.

"Farmers everywhere will be rightly worried that the future of EU agriculture is being shaped behind closed doors in Brussels without the people who will be most affected having any real say. That is not acceptable, and it raises serious questions," the ICSA president added.

McNamara called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon and the government to "strongly oppose" any move to merge the CAP budget into a general EU fund.

"It is vital that Minister Heydon leads the charge with other EU agriculture ministers to ensure agriculture is not sidelined. CAP must remain committed to its three core objectives: a fair income for farmers; food security for Europeans; and sustaining the economic and social fabric of rural areas," he said.

"Separate, ringfenced, and increased CAP funding must remain non-negotiable. Anything less would be a betrayal," the farm leader remarked.