Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief, as most of the topics have been covered. I thank Mr. Gleeson, in particular, for his comprehensive responses to the first round of questions. He covered a multitude.

I have a couple of simple questions. Deputy Jackie Cahill mentioned that the two buzz words since day one had been "simplification" and "subsidiarity". As the Deputy who has more experience of negotiating CAP deals than me stated, whereas simplification always used to be the key item on the table, it seems to have moved in the opposite direction. That also seems to be the case from our deliberations today. I do not know why the word keeps being used. We should give up on the idea of trying to make matters simpler, given that they are becoming more complicated.

I have some questions on subsidiarity. Mr. Gleeson stated each nation would have to make its proposals to the European Union by 1 January 2020 for its approval. Will that scrutiny become more complicated for countries in organising their CAP systems? How do we overcome the input of other nations with what the Department might decide to subsidise or support under the CAP? Under state aid rules, one country might believe the policy being adopted by the Irish will promote our mushroom growers and give them an unfair advantage because that country had decided to invest its money elsewhere. Will this process make reaching a solution more complicated?

As was mentioned, this is just a draft and negotiations are ongoing at official and ministerial levels. What input do we have into those negotiations? What is our angle of attack? What specifically are we looking to have changed in the draft recommendations? How much change will there be before the recommendations go to the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament?