Companies associated with Coolmore and the Magnier family collected over €450,000 in CAP payments in 2022, according to official records published by the Department of Agriculture last week.

As well as bloodstock, the company has a substantial tillage enterprise and cattle operation.

Lunarford Limited is listed as receiving a total of €149,624.84. This payment consisted of over €140,000 in direct payments, over €3,000 for areas of natural constraint and almost €6,000 in agri-environment payments.

Macquarie Ltd received €105,475.66, which included more than €96,000 in direct payments, €6,000 in agri- environment payments and over €3,000 for areas of natural constraint.

Shem Drowne Ltd received €73,825.90, consisting of almost €71,000 in direct payments, over €2,500 in agri- environment payments and €258 for areas of natural constraint.

Direct payments

Katherine Wachman, John Magnier’s daughter, is listed as receiving €23,988.53 in direct payments, of which just over €400 was for land in an area of natural constraint.

Carradale Trading received a payment of €52,858.31, while Warwick Investments Ltd received €53,424.07.

Interestingly, a payment of over €71,000 went to Lime Tree Farms Ltd, which is listed at Killough Castle, Thurles, Co Tipperary. John Magnier recently purchased Killough Castle on 527ac for a reported €6.5m.

Barne Estate

Meanwhile, several other notable Tipperary landowners also collected tens of thousands of euros in CAP payments.

Barne Estate, which is at the centre of a protracted legal case taken by John Magnier and his family, received €89,059 in CAP funds. Some €10,000 of this was an agri-environment payment.

Maurice Regan, another major player in the Barne Estate saga, received €85,002 in CAP funding. Some €7,600 of this was in agri environment payments.

Stud farms

Godolphin Ireland Limited received a total CAP payment of €222,957.70 in 2022, of which €2,685.50 was for areas of natural constraint. The company’s base is at Kildangan Stud, a 1,500ac farm in Kildare.

Hamwood Stud Unlimited in Meath, which is connected to the Dunne family of Dunnes Stores, received a payment of €64,332.44. It is owned by Ann Marshall and Bernard Dunne.The Irish National Stud in Kildare received a payment of €44,470.12 in direct payments in 2022 under the CAP.

The stud is a commercial state body operating under the Department of Agriculture. It promotes and develops the thoroughbred industry in Ireland.