Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope nobody was at the Chair in my absence.

I will deal with the broad macro issues because the detail of the schemes has been very comprehensively covered by the farm organisations. According to my calculations, when we take into account inflation the level of funding under Pillar 1 next year, as opposed to 2018, will be 13% less. I am speaking about the overall scheme of things. In Pillar 2 when we include all of the co-financing it will still amount to a 3% reduction on 2018 levels. Do any of the farm organisations dispute these figures? Have the organisations carried out analysis of what the real funding for the CAP will be? The reason I ask is because the Minister continuously states there is an increased budget for the CAP and particularly that there is an increase for funding under Pillar 2. He says this particularly in the context of the climate action debate. He states increased funding is being made available. I do not believe this. As I have said, my figures suggest this is not true. Do the witnesses agree with what I say or with what the Minister says? If they disagree with what the Minister has said, I have to ask each organisation why its representatives have not said so.

We have had a debate on convergence and discussions on funding. In recent months, the organisations' members have been in the firing line in the debate on climate action. The committee accepts that agriculture has a role to play in climate action and that all farmers will be expected to play their part.

The committee is also of the view that farmers need to be supported in doing that. Part of the mechanism to deliver this is the funding that will be provided under CAP. The difficulty is that CAP funding is going be reduced at a time when the members of the organisations present will be asked to do more.

My question is simple; is the premise that there will be less funding under CAP when inflation is taken into account true? Are the organisations present going to elaborate and make that point vividly? The debate on the next EU budget, which will include the next portion of our allocation to CAP, has already started at a European level. If we are collectively saying that Ireland is getting more when we are getting less for CAP, we are undermining our argument to ensure the next EU budget includes provision for an increase in the CAP allocation. That is my only question.