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

No. I have looked at the figures. I asked the Department how far €50,000 would go on a payment of €500 per hectare. It would give a €50 million saving and gives €40 million saving in the other aspect. I have asked further questions to elicit more information but basically if one wanted one could opt for a Cioloş mark 11 or a Minister's mark 11. I do not believe the Minister's proposal is correct because it does not do enough to level it up towards those in the middle, the farmers the ICMSA should be concerned about, the ordinary dairy producer with between 40 to 100 cows, who are the backbone of the ICMSA and not the farmers with 800 to 900 cows. I believe in retaining the structure of Irish farming, as farming based on the family farm and not major corporate farms. I would be very open to the valuable ideas put forward by the ICMSA. If the IFA gets its way, it wants a coupled payment and a payment for young farmers and so on.

I am open to the idea that all of these payments are funded by the Common Agricultural Policy. Mr. Comer states that one cannot cap payments, but one can average out payments. For example, the proposal put forward by the European Parliament rapporteur was basically a cap and a floor. I believe there is a total underestimation of the role of the European Parliament. Mr. Comer spoke of a minimum payment of €200 and a maximum of €300. If one takes €250 as being the real average rather than €274, then he is effectively putting a cap on it. There is a good case to be made as to how one will fund the add-ons. I would be very interested in Mr. Comer's ideas on that.