An Irish MEP has called on the government to use new state aid flexibilities to ensure farmers are protected from fertiliser price surges.

Sinn Féin MEP Kathleen Funchion called on the government to make full use of state aid exemptions to support farmers through the price shock, ahead of the expected publication of the European Commission's Fertiliser Action Plan this spring.

Funchion said: "The current skyrocketing of fertiliser prices due to the [conflict in the Middle East] has put additional pressure on farming, and threatens incomes on many farms.

She added: "State aid rules for the fertiliser sector have already been relaxed, with further exemptions expected. The commission is also planning to widen the state aid exemptions for agriculture, allowing member states to give direct support to farmers.

Funchion, an MEP for Ireland South, called on the government to set out an "immediate response plan" to make the most of the state aid exemptions and to mitigate the increased prices to protect farm incomes.

She said that the upcoming Fertiliser Action Plan from the commission will the take action "to tackle the many issues around fertilisers, including the overreliance on imports".

However, Funchion added that farmers should be given certainty from the Irish government now "rather than wait months, in an already highly tumultuous global atmosphere, for European action".

"Farmers must be shielded from the worst extremes of the fallout from geopolitical instability, and it is first and foremost the role of the Irish government at home to do so," she said.

EU set to back state aid support

It emerged last week that the European Commission looks set to back enhanced state aid in EU member states for farmers to tackle fuel and fertiliser costs.

A leaked draft document from the commission says that increases in fertiliser and fuel costs have been so steep that additional measures beyond what is already possible under state aid rules should be considered, due to the impact of the Iran crisis.

Any additional measures put in place by a member state would be temporary, the document says.

It should be noted that this is only a working document at this stage and it has not been officially endorsed by the commission.