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

Unfortunately, since 2010, when inflation is taken into account, we have seen a massive decrease in European funding under the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and all the indications are that this will continue. As well as that, it is my understanding that, as of now, farmers in eastern European countries do not receive the same payments as those in western Europe. There has progressively been an effort to push the money eastwards on the basis of equality which I can understand under the CAP.

We are in the wealthy league because we are net contributors. If we could put the money in and ring-fence it with a cap for Ireland, that would be handy dandy, as it were, but we cannot, and that is the problem for us.

Ms Brown did not really answer the question. For every billion euro increase in the budget what percentage goes into the CAP? I have been trying to get information on how much money we have got since 2010 for infrastructure. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport could not give me the figure. The Minister wrote to every agency to try to get the figure. I was a bit surprised but that is the way he works. The figures that came back were quite trivial compared with the expenditure on motorways and railway lines in that period. That tailed off over time. Our main source of finance from Europe is the CAP. Will the witness tell us per billion euro put in what percentage comes back out in the CAP? That has to be a factor. If farmers are given a choice between €100 million out of €100 million or €50 million out of €100 million, and I know farmers in the west can count, they will certainly go for the €100 million out of €100 million. Maybe farmers up the country are different.