Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I heard what the Deputy said. As regards forestry and agriculture, if one asks the CSO for clarification of its figures, it is not talking about the food industry but about primary sectors. There is a slight increase in the numbers this year, whereas last year there was a significant increase, although the same methodology was used. I am not suggesting that there is a massive flocking to the land, but the numbers of young people studying agriculture-related courses and those attending agricultural colleges have increased dramatically compared to three or four years ago. Presumably those young people are going somewhere when they leave agricultural colleges. On more than one occasion I have had to increase the staff availability for Teagasc to deal with the number of young people seeking to study farming and agriculture. I think it is credible that there are increased numbers, but to know whether they are as significant as was suggested last year in the CSO report, one would have to ask the CSO.

As regards overall spending on CAP, there was some reduction in the Pillar 1 spend and some adjustment in the transition. However, we are still talking about €1.2 billion or more. It is still a very significant spend on Irish agriculture. The whole point of what we are trying to do in agriculture at the moment is to help farmers make more money from the marketplace, rather than talking indefinitely into the future about solely making a living from the amount of money that comes from Europe. The money we get from Europe should be about supporting incomes for farmers. It is also about helping farmers who do not have the capacity to increase their income from the marketplace because of the challenges and disadvantages they have and the types of farm they have. Primarily, we should be spending money to allow farmers to produce better, safer and more premium products that they can get better prices for. That is what we are trying to do with the Food Harvest 2020 programme.

The average spend on the rural development programme, RDP, over the lifetime of this CAP will be €565 million. That was agreed with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin. We are only spending €405 million on the rural development programme this year. So Deputy Ó Cuív is right; it will take a while to ramp this up.