Every aspect of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) review that emanated from Brussels last week should send the alarm bells ringing within the Irish government.

And the same principle holds where every farming stakeholder group in the country is concerned.

I believe that if even a fraction of the EU's proposals’ package is implemented, Irish agriculture is toast.

One only has to look at what we already know about Irish government policy on CAP, relative to wjhat is now out for discussion.

Minister for Education Helen McEntee attended a farmers’ meeting in her Co. Meath constituency recently and essentially said that a strongly funded Pillar One and Pillar Two would be the only show in town as Ireland looked to the future.

So try finding anything that remotely resembles this sentiment in the package pf proposals that came out of Brussels last week.

Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon is putting great store in the fact that Ireland will host the presidency of the EU during the second half of 2026, the period during which it is expected that the CAP negotiations will be finalised.

But, in truth, if it is a case of signing-off on anything that remotely resembles what is on the table right now: heaven help us.

I believe Minister Heydon would be better served by putting out a statement with immediate effect, calling for the commission to go back to the drawing board and coming up with something sensible.

The only way out of all this would be for the Irish government to agree to a complementary national funding for agriculture - one that would deliver real security and sustainability into the future.

However, the likelihood of this happening is remote. Every murmuring that comes out of government circles at the present time is highlighting the dire threat of sanctions that are coming down the track from Washington.

And I sense that we are going to see the first Irish policy manifestations of all this coming down the track courtesy of Budget 2026.

But, of course, Brussels-based bureaucrats could be thinking that the markets alone are going to save the day for European agriculture.

And, indeed, most commodity prices are relatively strong at the present time.

But just ask Irish tillage farmers what they make of market returns right now.

There is absolutely no guarantee that market returns alone will guarantee a sustainable future for farming throughout Europe.

What is needed is a sensible policy framework that recognises the joint priorities of food security and environmental protection

We also need practical and fully transparent measures that everyone can understand and buy into.