Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Chair, and I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their time and their contributions. CAP from its outset was meant to provide cheap food to the European market. It has changed its emphasis over the years and has now become more about providing a very high-quality product or high-quality food. It is now more focused on that and on issues of environmental sustainability. They are the two things that will be pushed more than anything else in any CAP reform. The witness mentioned direct payments. Direct payments are vital to farmers in Ireland. In that regard, while we know what we are looking for from an Irish perspective, do we have much indication as to the position of others?

I refer to our other European colleagues, particularly the big powerhouses such as Germany and France which may have a slightly different agenda. How open are they to maintaining or expanding some of what Ireland is looking to do?

On the issue of greening, we have had GLAS and various schemes down the years. While farmers find them difficult at times because there is so much red tape involved, at the same time they have provided a stable payment. They know that money will come once they do the job right. I wonder is it perceived that we will go more in that direction so that there will be a greater emphasis on the greening measures than on the direct payments in the future. How comfortable would Ireland be with that? The farming community would not be comfortable with it. It needs the surety of the direct payment in place.

The other issue already mentioned was volatility, how to shore that up and whether some of the CAP moneys can be used for that. Many in the farming community would fear that if that were to happen it would eat into what they consider to be their entitlements and that would be a dangerous track to go down. However, from what we hear, that is the direction many of the other European countries want to go.

While much of it has already been discussed, I would like to know, while we know where we want to be and where we want to go in a broad sense, what obstacles will we meet and where are other countries in respect of all of these issues.