Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Farmers Charter Review Group began renegotiation of the new Farmers Charter in early January 2023. The aim of the Review Group is to agree standards and delivery targets for schemes and services provided by the Department including renegotiating key targets in respect of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and scheme implementation targets.

The Farmers Charter Review Group comprises senior Department officials and representatives of the main Farmer representative bodies. The group is chaired by an Assistant Secretary General of the Department.

To date, the Farmers Charter Review Group have held 10 ‘roundtable’ meetings, the most recent of which took place on 7 February 2024. Following on from these roundtable meetings several bilateral meetings were held with farming bodies who wished to avail of this option.

Negotiations on the new Farmers Charter are now at an advanced stage with the next planned roundtable meeting taking place on 10 May 2024. A final draft of the Farmers Charter will be examined at this meeting with the aim of reaching a consensus on the new Farmers Charter. The Department remains hopeful of agreement at the next meeting on any outstanding issues. Once agreement is in place, the Department will immediately move to publish the new Farmers Charter.

Upon finalisation of the new Farmers Charter, a new Charter Monitoring Committee with be established under an independent chair to monitor Charter targets and commitments.