Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When I said it a few years ago, I got fairly whipped. I am fully in agreement with the capping of payments in excess of €100,000. That is a significant sum. On this labour cost aspect, it is self-evident that costs more, but how will that be measured and taken into account in achieving a fair distribution of payments? That will be some headache for Mr. Gleeson and his colleagues and anybody else who is involved. I am sure Mr. Dillon and his colleagues will be delighted with all this arriving on their desks, and I do not envy them one whit. Deputy Cahill has put a nail in it. This is bureaucracy in the EU manufacturing super bureaucracy to obscure what is a clear objective and I am worried that the Department will be left in an awful mess with it. As it stands, 30% of the direct payments are allocated for greening measures. Where will the content of the new environmental architecture go and how will that be achieved? This is all worthy but it reminds me of putting a significant set of objectives in place and then not knowing where we will end up.

We all subscribe to subsidiarity and flexibility and we need the targeted support for family farms with the emphasis on higher support for smaller farmers, etc. With a limited budget, that is where our focus should be. However, in regard to the focus on modernisation and simplification of CAP where up to now 20% of farmers received 80% of payments, that will not achieve this. I would love to see how this subsidiarity will work. I am worried that very often when a member state gets a hold of a measure, it can be as woolly in bureaucracy as anybody else. That is why we are off to appeals and various other mechanisms. There are none better to construe a document or a regulation than our own bureaucrats. I cannot see how this simplification will work. Will it mean the continuation of the form-filling exercise that we have on an annual basis? Surely we can get to a system where a card is used and, when there is a change, the farmer notifies the Department and it reflects that rather than going through big reams of forms on an annual basis.

Talking about bureaucracy, there are people in this country who do not use computers and the Department is now expecting them all to come along and utilise those. Not everyone is into that.

There should be greater emphasis on climate action and a significant increase in environmental ambitions.

I hope there is a renewed emphasis on generational renewal for young farmers. There will not be any big shouts in Europe about this but the squeals of the farming organisations will be heard on the Rock of Cashel from here when this starts. They will only pay lip service, however. I support Macra na Feirme unequivocally on this issue and the European Commissioner, Phil Hogan, is clear on this. The farming organisations will have to get their act together and support it rather than paying lip service. Young farmers must have some way of getting into this game. I get angry when I hear one cannot touch this because it is a basic thing. How does a farmer expect his son or daughter ever to get on the pitch? I urge our officials not to give any leeway on this issue.

I do not know what risk management means. This is one of the great measures. One can bring up the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007. When one is stuck, one refers to sections 19 and 20. They cover risk management, hazard analysis and the devil knows what. I do not know what this means. The best of luck to our competent officials dealing with that one.

The emphasis will be on the continuation of direct payments to be fully financed by the EU budget. However, between €10 billion and €12 billion will be gone from the budget after Brexit and it will not be easy. Ireland will not be found wanting when it comes to an increased contribution to the EU budget. The problem is that at least five member states are pulling the rope a different way and are not interested. As I have said previously, we need to be plain with the Irish people that we are going to demand extra money from their taxes. We have to tell the truth to achieve this objective of getting extra tax money. Other countries will have to step up to the plate because we cannot fill the €10 billion gap unless every other member state makes a similar proportionate contribution. We should start telling that, not just to the Irish public, but to some farming organisation leaders who may be misleading their own members by claiming the Government can do this. It can do its part but this is a jigsaw and the other 27 member states better come carrying little packs of money on their back similar to a leprechaun bringing money to shore. It is important we are straight and honest with the people, particularly with the farming public.