Agriculture ministers from the European Union's twenty-seven member states will meet in county Meath next May as part of the Irish Presidency of the Union.

Minister of State, Shane McEntee TD, has confirmed that the Government has selected county Meath as the location for an informal meeting of the EU Council of Agriculture and Fisheries ministers which will take place during a fact-finding visit to the county by the ministers.

Ireland's Presidency begins on the first of January next year. Each EU member state takes its turn on a rotating basis to chair meetings of the various Councils of Ministers as well as hundreds of other working meetings at technical or civil service level.

The arrangements for the ministers' visit are being finalised but it is expected they will visit Newgrange, the Teagasc centre at Grange, Dunsany and a number of leading farm and agri-food enterprises.