Millionaire “hobby” farmers are reaping the benefits of the EU’s largesse, claiming enormous grants every year. The publication of the beneficiaries of the single-farm payment scheme has ploughed up the names of several multi-millionaires including Sir Anthony O’Reilly, the media tycoon, and Michael O’Leary, the Ryanair chief. Both are benefiting from the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

O’Reilly, who has a farm at his Castlemartin estate in Kilcullen, Co Kildare, where he breeds cattle and bloodstock, claimed €37,126.71 between October 2007 and October 2008 under the single-farm payment scheme. He keeps a Charolais herd that was founded in 1976 and comprises more than 300 cattle and 100 breeding cows. His Charolais heifers are regular winners at the National Livestock Show.

O’Leary, another “lifestyle farmer” with a 200-acre holding in Gigginstown, Co Westmeath, received €52,119.56 under the single-farm payment scheme during the same period. He got another €3,702 under the European Agriculture Guarantee Fund, a grant established to “regulate agriculture markets through intervention and export refunds”.

Last year the Ryanair boss, who keeps a herd of prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle at his farm, claimed €12,801.35 under yet another EU scheme, the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (Reps). Recipients must improve environmental conditions on farms by planting hedgerows, keeping livestock away from waterways and limiting the amount of slurry spread.

O’Leary, who lost almost €10m in 2008 according to The Sunday Times rich list, has previously railed at EU intervention in the aviation industry.

The name and address of every farmer who received payments from the EU was published for the first time online on Thursday night. In total, more than €2 billion was paid to Irish farmers.

The Department of Agriculture estimated last year that the average single-farm payment was about €10,000. Despite this, over 500 farmers and companies received more than €100,000 between October 2007 and 2008.

Farmers’ groups have criticised the publication of the grant information online, labelling it “a snoopers’ charter”. Raymond O'Malley, Libertas candidate for Ireland East in the forthcoming European elections, said he was “amazed” at the decision to publish the names of grant recipients.

“The EU requires farmer payments to be totally transparent while at the same time MEPs voted to keep their expenses and attendance records secret,” he said. “This double standard is typical of a political system in need of radical change.”

The name of Martin Mansergh, a junior minister and a TD for Tipperary South, also appeared on last week’s list. The politician, co-owner of a farm in Friarsland, Co Tipperary, with his brother, received €15,714 last year. Mansergh, who has a doctorate from Oxford, farms a beef and suckler herd at the 165-acre holding.

Mansergh said that having the farm helps him keep his feet on the ground, and defended the payments. “Every penny goes into the farm. With my political commitments, I employ someone to help with the work, so the payment helps meet those costs,” he said.

“But it has been a long time since I, or my brother, have taken anything out of the farm. Without the payment, it simply wouldn’t be viable.”

The highest payment was made to the Greencore group, some €83,377,557. The Irish Dairy Board Co-op was in second place with €6,551,384, while Kerry Ingredients Ireland was third with €5,056,628.

Other high-profile beneficiaries include Niall Mellon, a philanthropist and builder, who claimed more than €17,000. Mellon, whose main income is as a property developer, keeps a farm at his estate in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny.

Tom Bailey of Bovale developments, a builder with a farm in Batterstown, Co Meath, claimed €8,597 in CAP subsidies between October 2007 and October 2008. The Roscommon-born property developer, who is fighting attempts to be disqualified as a company director, made tax history last year when he and his brother Mick made a €22m settlement with the Revenue Commissioners, the most in the history of the state. A Limousin breeder, he has won several prizes at the National Livestock Show in recent years.

Several TDs also received substantial payments, including Ned O’Keeffe, a Cork Fianna Fail TD with a pig farm, who claimed €75,841. Tom Hayes, a Fine Gael TD from Tipperary, received €47,602 in total.

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