Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome everyone. Apologies have been received from Deputy Kehoe. Before we begin, I remind members that in the context of the current Covid-19 restrictions, only the Chairman and staff are present in the committee room and all members must join remotely from elsewhere in the parliamentary precincts. The secretariat can issue invitations to join the meeting on Microsoft Teams. Members may not participate in the meeting from outside the parliamentary precincts. I ask members to mute their microphones when they are not making a contribution and to use the "raise hand" function to indicate. Please note that messages sent to the meeting chat are visible to all participants. Speaking slots will be prioritised for members of the committee. The topic of today's meeting is the Common Agricultural Policy negotiations, specifically the proposed amendments to the good agricultural and environmental conditions 2, GAEC 2.

The meeting comprises two parts. In the first part, from 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., the committee will engage with representatives of the Irish Farmers' Association, IFA, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association, INHFA, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA, and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association, ICSA. The second hour is engagement with officials from the Department of Agriculture and the Marine.

I welcome Mr. Tim Cullinan, president of the IFA, and Mr. Tadhg Buckley, IFA director of policy and its chief economist. From the ICMSA, I welcome Mr. Pat McCormack, president, and Mr. John Enright, general secretary. From the ICSA, I welcome Mr. Dermot Kelleher, president, Mr. Eddie Punch, general secretary and Mr. Tim Farrell, rural development chair. From the INHFA, I welcome Mr. Colm O'Donnell, national president, and Mr. Henry O'Donnell, Donegal national council representative. They are all appearing remotely. I welcome the witnesses. We have received their opening statements, which have already been circulated to members. We are limited in time due to Covid-19 safety restrictions, so the committee has agreed that the opening statements will be taken as read so that we can use the full session for questions and answers. All opening statements are published on the Oireachtas website and are publicly available.

Before we begin, I have an important notice on parliamentary privilege. Witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. Participants in the committee meeting from a location outside the parliamentary precincts are asked to note that the constitutional protections afforded to those participating from within the parliamentary precincts do not extend to them. No clear guidance can be given on whether or the extent to which their participation is covered by absolute privilege of a statutory nature.

I invite questions from members to the farming organisations.