Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice. On the importation of farm machinery, there is ongoing and close engagement between my Department officials and officials in the Department of Transport and the Revenue Commissioners on the importation of all products, and I know about the challenges concerning farm machinery.

There have been many adjustment challenges, particularly as people adjust to the paperwork that is now involved and to ensuring they have prepared for what is required to meet the thresholds and the paperwork obligations. It is something on which we will continue to try to support importers and exporters closely. In order to do that, it is essential that all Departments are working closely together and that certainly is the position. It does not mean there are not challenges; unfortunately there are. That is a reflection of how Brexit was a really bad idea in the first instance and was only going to lead to challenges from a trade point of view. However, we are determined to ensure trade flows as smoothly as possible and with everyone working together, in many ways it has gone as well as it could thus far. As others have already pointed out, scale is down. It will be scaling up but we will continue to work closely together to support everyone, across all sectors, in meeting the additional challenges.

On the €1 billion Brexit adjustment fund, my objective in everything I do is ultimately to support farm incomes, to ensure they are as sustainable as possible and to maximise them. That is why the €179 million in additional funding in the most recent budget was aimed at supporting farmers directly, because that is my number one commitment. In that context, it is important to have a robust processing sector as well and that it is invested in. It is important for such investment to be about adding value to what farmers produce at farm level and ultimately be about trying to ensure it underpins farm incomes in the best way possible. That is my objective in terms of how we assess and monitor farm incomes in the year ahead.

The Deputy mentioned milk production. The challenge there with mixed milk is from the perspective of a third country or non-EU market. There are some challenges in that regard and the sector is trying to manage them as best it can. As time moves on, we certainly will seek to ensure the third country issues can be addressed as trade deals come up for renegotiation.

On seed potatoes, there was an issue with seed and ware potatoes. Ware potatoes can now be imported into the country. There remains a situation with seed potatoes where the SPS certifications are not provided for. As a lot of the seed potatoes used domestically are imported from Scotland, that is a particular challenge. The British Government is currently engaged with the European Commission on an application to cover seed potatoes for import and it remains to be seen what will transpire. Undoubtedly there is an opportunity for us to try to reboot the seed potato industry domestically. In the north west and in my own county in particular, there was always a strong tradition of seed potato production. It is one that has fallen away in recent years but I am looking at the opportunities there to see how we can try to develop that further. The engagement between the British Government and the EU Commission continues on the importation of seed potatoes.

With reference to EU checks in Northern Ireland, safety comes first and I think we all recognise that. Full documentary checks continue in respect of imports. It is important we recognise what the North-South protocol achieved. Northern Ireland remains constitutionally part of the UK and part of the UK customs union but the protocol provides the opportunity for Northern Ireland to be fully part of the Single Market as well. That leaves Northern Ireland in a unique position whereby it has access to both markets. The North-South protocol and those checks are important for facilitating trade in both directions. We will therefore work with our Northern Irish counterparts on supporting that and it is important that everybody takes a measured approach in the time ahead.

The Article 16 debate at EU level in the past week was not helpful. As I said earlier, the European Commission has recognised that it was misguided and it was recognised as a mistake. It is not something we will see in the future.

On the extension I have sought to the BEAM scheme from the Commission, the Deputy will be aware that a significant number of farmers are behind in meeting the 5% nitrogen reduction criteria, which was required of them by 1 July this year. My objective is to always do everything I can to support farm incomes and to ensure that farmers are supported from a departmental and a policy point of view. This was a welcome scheme, which was co-funded between the EU and the Exchequer. More than half of the farmers are on course to meet their obligations to reduce their nitrogen use by 5%. Some of them have taken significant action to achieve that. Many other farmer did not join the scheme in the first instance because the 5% would have put them off and they decided to not avail of it. Those who are on course to meet the 5% reduction by 1 July will be unaffected by the request I have made to the Commission. If the extension is granted, it will allow for a new reference year from 1 January to 31 December this year so that farmers can reset and achieve the 5% reduction over the course of 2021. I am hoping for an early answer from the Commission, but we have not yet received confirmation on that being granted. I will be asking my Department to work with the representative organisations to engage with farmers, emphasising the importance of them engaging with their agricultural advisers on how best to take the action now to minimise the challenge of meeting that 5% reduction over the year ahead. If that reduction is not met, it means that the money already paid out to individual farmers will be repayable and this is not a situation I want. This is why I have sought this second opportunity for farmers to reset to try to ensure the money stays in their pockets.