Mr. Colm O'Donnell:

I thank the committee and the Chair for inviting the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association to be part of this debate. I also welcome members of the joint Oireachtas committee to the hearing. The Common Agricultural Policy has served farmers well since it was set up many years ago, but this reform has got to be the reform that brings fairness to how farmers are supported in future. The three main objectives of the reform are fostering market resilience and a diversified agricultural sector, environmental care and climate action, but perhaps the one we really need to focus on is the basic objective of strengthening the socioeconomic fabric of rural areas. CAP payments are the vehicle to do this, not for a small cohort or for commercial farmers, the likes of Larry Goodman and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, but for every farmer.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has a duty of care to the approximately 125,000 farmers who are recipients and beneficiaries of payments. Payments were established based on what was going on from 2000 to 2002, which is 20 or so years ago now. The European Commission recommendations to Ireland, as a member state, indicated it is time to continue with the convergence model and move towards a full flattening of payments per hectare. That is 100% the position of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association regarding convergence. I ask members at today's hearing not to forget that Ireland has enjoyed, because of external convergence, no cut to the overall budget. That is because 60% of farmers in this country are on payments less than the national average. In fact, half of them are on payments of less than €200 per hectare. It is a myth that the most productive and commercially-based farms are those with the highest historical payments.

Figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine show the most productive farms are those in receipt of payments of between €200 and €300 per hectare, which is approximately the Irish average. There is a duty of care for members, as legislators, to ensure we get fairness in this CAP reform.

The eco-scheme has been mentioned by some of the previous contributors. Internal convergence and the way greening was administered did a rank injustice to farmers. At the start of the previous reform, greening for one farmer meant a payment of €30 per hectare and a payment of €300 per hectare for another farmer for carrying out the same measure, that is, the retention of permanent grassland. In 2019, one farmer could receive €48 per hectare and another farmer, possibly next door, could be on €210 per hectare for carrying out the same measure, namely, the retention of permanent grassland. Why pay one farmer €162 more than the other for carrying out the same measure? This is why the eco-scheme has to be fair. It has to be a level playing field. We must have suitable actions for all types of farms and enterprises and a legitimate expectation that all those farmers will get a uniform payment, per hectare, for carrying out similar environmental and climate objectives. It would be a travesty if this House adopted any other course of action.

The front-loading of payments was part of the reason the current CAP trilogue negotiations broke down. The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association is strongly advocating for front-loading to be included because, some would say, some farmers will lose due to having a high payment per hectare on a small number of hectares. This is the vehicle to ensure they get a front-loaded payment. It is a complementary redistribution income support for sustainability.

If we have a capping, as some of the other farm leaders have spoken about, of €60,000 to any one recipient with no account for labour units, €22 million would be available to target the complementary redistributive income support for sustainability, or CRISS, payment. This will incubate and cushion any farmer who may be exposed to internal convergence.

On the viability of commercial farms or those representing commercial farming, what about the other 66% of farms which are not viable? Let us not forget, viable farms are farms which can support a labour unit. Those enterprises are doing well and have traditionally done well given that they can pay a labour unit. The other 66% of the farms the length and breadth of rural Ireland are vulnerable, do not have enough farm income and cannot support a labour unit. Then we have sustainable farms which must have an off-farm income to help with their farm income if they are to remain viable family farms.

I thank the Chairman for the time he has given.