Mr. John Keane:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. I will highlight a couple of issues that came to light in the course of reading the document and engagements we have had with CEJA at European level. A lot of the focus in this committee in the previous hearing was around peatlands and drained peatlands. When you delve down into the detail of the document, it references aspects that will affect every single farmer in the country. I would like to bring the committee's attention to some of them. The first point mentioned earlier was about restoration of peatlands. It references, loosely, the word "restoration" on many occasions in the document. Under Article 4, the only definition that contains a restoration measure is rewetting. That is the only option there currently for the restoration of peatlands. There is a piece at the end of the document that refers to Article 12. It outlines the restoration plans and their implementation. I bring the committee's attention to a piece on the reporting national governments must do. It states that an indication of the subsidies which negatively affect the achievement of the targets and the fulfilment of the obligations set out in the regulation must be reported back to the Commission on the occurrence of each reporting period. I do not know whether our question can be answered but could a negative subsidy mean that if the subsidies we give farmers under the likes of our dairy calf to beef scheme, beef schemes, CAP payments or basic payment are deemed to be supporting agricultural activities, which are not in unison with the objectives of this, put those payments to farmers at risk?

The second point, which is applicable to all farmers, comes as one of the main seven objectives of the overall document around point 3, which outlines to the following issues. It outlines that in agricultural ecosystems, the overall increase in biodiversity must be measured and there must be a positive trend for the grassland butterflies to farmland birds, but the main point here is the stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils, which refers to all cropland soils in the country. If the trend is not positive for soil organic carbon in all of those soils, what are the implications for all farmers? If the trend is in the wrong direction, does that mean they are going to be penalised or that they will have to introduce restoration measures that are not defined within the document?

The Deputy's second question was around trade. At the moment farmers in the EU and Ireland are being put through enhanced measures, if that is what you want to call them, in terms of eco schemes and biodiversity to meet the objectives of the Green Deal. However, we have other players in international markets who are supplying products competing with European products within our market. We are speaking about putting further restrictions on the ability of agriculture and farmers to produce food, while potentially importing food from third countries which are not keeping pace with us, even with the gap they are at. That gap is widening. From the point of view of a farmer producing food in Europe and in Ireland, it does not make any sense for a young person or any farmer in that context to be embracing the measures that are set out in all of these environmental practices and so forth, which are very beneficial, while the EU on the other hand is agreeing trade deals with third countries that will not be implementing the same standards.

Before I ask Mr. Hanrahan to comment, the final point to round off all of the discussions that we will have today is on the importance of securing certainty for young people to enter the sector. That is something which cannot be lost on the committee or the stakeholders within the industry. Given the uncertainty around the future in certain sectors and the future in relation to the implementation of some measures in the new CAP and under the biodiversity measures, a serious investigation and assessment are needed on the impact of this on the whole industry and on any measures brought forward and the impact they are going to have on securing a future for young people in the sector, not just in Ireland as it is a problem across the EU.