Farmers protesting against agricultural policy reforms in Ireland have stepped up their demonstrations over the past week.

On Saturday, over a thousand farmers, supported by the Irish Farmers' Association, gathered outside the constituency office of Farming Minister Simon Coveney in County Cork to demonstrate against policy reforms they maintain will result in lost income and threats to production.

The IFA leadership has expressed anger at EU Common Agricultural Policy reforms, which are supported by Mr Covenry. Speaking on Saturday, IFA president John Bryan said, "The Minister's proposals are effectively capitalising SFP payments into land ownership rather than production, which will be a disaster for land mobility and growth. The CAP proposals on the table are moving too far, too quickly towards a flat payment system, and unless the Minister stands up and shouts stop, irreparable damage will be done to Irish agriculture."

Farmers have increased the frequency of protests over the issue; IFA said a group of farmers will be demonstrating outside Dublin Castle on Monday (11th March) to coincide with the visit of EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos to Ireland, which currently holds EU presidency. Mr Ciolos will be in Ireland to discuss CAP reform issues and means of improving access into farming for young people.

Farmers have pledged to protest as they believe Commission reform proposals threaten "productive agriculture in Ireland." They are unhappy about moves towards funding based on a flat-rate payment per hectare, which they claim would not take production into account, effectively penalising productive farmers and rewarding less-productive landowners.

CAP reform proposals, which were voted on and amended by the EU Parliament's Agriculture Committee in January, will go before the Parliament plenary later this week.