Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a straight question. Are the witnesses opposed, in principle, to any cap in the amount of payment that any individual can get? If they are, that is fine, but if they are not, perhaps they could indicate a suitable cap? There have been suggestions from Commissioner Cioloş and the European Parliament, which basically stipulates that there can be a payment of between €200 and €300 per hectare. That is a dramatic cap. The Minister also has a proposal. An interesting mind game concerns where we are likely to end up and how likely it is that the Minister's proposal will get through the European Parliament. I am not sure it will.

An issue could arise if we do not get the answer we want but rather an indication that no payment will be less than €200 per hectare. There are not many hill farmers with 1,000 acres but they would make a huge gain because there would be no cap. By having a cap, one would avoid an unintended consequence arising because the advocacy groups do not control the negotiations; there are 27 countries involved in the process. I notice there is much concentration among member governments but the European Parliament is in the game. It is interesting to note what its rapporteur put forward, which is, if I may term it, Cioloş mark 2, plus or minus 20%. When all these people get together and start compromising, things happen that may not be expected. I am interested to hear the views on such a cap.

People often raise the question of whether farmers work full time. We know the vast majority of farmers do not work full time, although dairy farmers are the exceptions. They are not necessarily the people with the biggest single payment, as it is not the way the payment is made. For example, people in the beef industry did relatively well in single payments; if they were well organised they would get the first and second tranches, as well as the slaughter premium in reference years. The idea that the highly paid farmers - either taken on a per hectare basis or in total - are dairy farmers is a nonsense. I do not know how many dairy farmers are in the country, although the witnesses probably know this.