Mr. John Lynskey:

Chairman, Deputies and Senators, in order to maintain and grow the national sheep flock there is a need for increased targeted direct support for sheep production from a combination of EU and national funds. Support should be targeted at active producers.

A number of EU countries have introduced coupled payments for sheep as part of their CAP 2015-2020 plans. As reported in last week’s Irish Farmers' Journal, 22 member states have introduced varying levels of coupling for sheep. The average payment is €12 per head. A total of €486 million, or 12% of coupled payments, is being allocated to sheep. In France, payments are varying from €16 to €27 per head. In Spain, the range is from €8 to €13 per head.

Through a combination of CAP and national funds, there is a budget of €580 million per annum in the rural development programme for 2015-2020. The IFA worked hard to secure matching funds for the rural development programme. New schemes are being rolled out through GLAS, knowledge transfer, beef genomics and TAMS II.

Sheep farmers are entitled to their fair share of, and access to, these funds and schemes. The IFA is insisting that sheep farmers get the best deal possible. To maintain the national ewe flock, the sheep sector requires targeted sheep-specific payments to the equivalent to €20 per ewe. The IFA is demanding that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, starts providing funding for this, with priority access to a number of schemes and the allocation of €25 million for a direct payment.

Sheep farmers must have priority access to the GLAS payment of up to €5,000 per annum. All qualifying sheep farmers should be accepted into the scheme.

In addition, mixed grazing involving cattle and sheep should qualify as a payment measure. The latest move to limit the scheme and exclude farmers from the second phase is not acceptable. The changes to the low-input permanent pasture and traditional hay meadows measures effectively halve the value of those measures, which are vital for sheep and cattle farmers. This must be addressed and 50,000 applicants must be allowed join.

For commonage farmers, plans must be implemented in a flexible way in order to maximise participation in line with the IFA commonage strategy. The restrictions on GLAS+ must be eased so that hill sheep farmers and commonage farmers can qualify for the extra payment of €2,000.

The current sheep technology advisory programme, STAP, has been very successful, with more than 4,000 sheep farmers participating. This success must be built upon and the IFA is proposing that a target of 10,000 participants be included in the new knowledge transfer scheme for sheep in 2016. That scheme must be simple and practical in nature. Mixed cattle and sheep farms must continue to qualify for a level of separate payment. Likewise, mixed tillage and sheep farms should also qualify for additional payments. The IFA has made its views very clear to the Minister on the unacceptable situation in respect of the making payments to advisers and facilitators as opposed to directly to farmers and also on the actual level of these payments.

TAMS II must have a significant and dedicated level of funding for investment in the sheep sector. The decision of the Minister to exclude sheep fencing and technology equipment in the recent TAMS II announcement was wrong and must be reversed immediately. The Minister must include these items under the amendment currently being prepared on the Rural Development programme to be submitted to Brussels.

Payments for areas of natural constraint, formerly the disadvantaged areas scheme, should be restored to their pre-2008 levels. This would involve a restoration of payment rates at farm level and restoration of the payment status of farmers in split holdings.

The Government, in conjunction with Bord Bia, must adopt a strong market access policy to open up new high-value markets such the US, China and others, and remove the access restrictions and difficulties associated with TSEs for both sheepmeat and live animals. We also need to develop market outlets for light lamb. Other policy areas that are important for sheep producers include the need for Teagasc to maintain a strong independent sheep research and advisory programme, with Athenry as a centre of excellence. In addition, Teagasc needs to increase the numbers of sheep farms in the BETTER farm programme.

Bord Bia promotional funding for Irish lamb on the domestic and export markets must be maintained in addition to EU funding for generic promotion of lamb. There needs to be a worthwhile and transparent price incentive for lambs from a Bord Bia quality assured farm.

Sheep Ireland is working hard on sheep breeding. It is very important we have a well-funded, focused and practical sheep-breeding improvement programme implemented for the benefit of sheep farmers and the sector. It is essential that this be closely linked to the knowledge transfer programme and Teagasc.

Regarding the most recent discussions on imposing compulsory electronic tagging, EID, for all sheep, the IFA has made the views of sheep farmers very clear to Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, and the Department. The €2 million cost involved for sheep farmers is excessive and the derogation on lambs direct to slaughter must be maintained. In addition, the unique situation of hill sheep producers must be accommodated and central points of recording must be available to reduce paperwork and bureaucracy.

In summary, the IFA is requesting the backing of this committee in respect of increased supports for the 34,000 plus sheep farmers operating in the sector. This sector is very important and deserves its fair share.

I thank the committee for its support.