Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the representatives of the Department for appearing this evening. There is not a whole lot to ask. They have everything in here, and it is what it is. We are not going to change it now.

On the GAEC 8 changes, I will be 60 shortly. CAP has been around a long time and I have been listening to talk about simplifying CAP for as long as I remember or understood or knew what it was. It never seems to happen. It is said that every CAP negotiated is going to be simpler but it ends up getting complicated, more through bureaucracy and what is expected of the farmers in respect of getting their applications in and ticking all the boxes.

Regarding the proposed changes mentioned, especially concerning GAEC ones, what would a farmer have to do in this regard? The first thing I thought when I was reading this information about the need to prove your soil type is X, Y or Z was to wonder if tests, and an adviser, will be required to do so. Can Ms Murphy see there being further bureaucracy and paperwork involved in what is being given the headline of "simplification"?

In the end, it was said that this can be retrospective for 2024. How soon will we know this? While it was said work is already under way on potential, possible and hopeful simplifications for CAP post 2027, does Ms Murphy have any idea in what direction this might go? Anything that is a simplification or advantageous to the farmer is always very welcome, but this whole process came on the back of the protests in Brussels. Without being flippant about or critical of the changes - indeed, I welcome them - at the same time, there is very little in these changes. I am surprised the protesters were satisfied with them. Given the elements of the protests I saw, if these changes got them to go home, is there anything else that might be forthcoming from this process? As I said, it is welcome, but it just does not seem like a whole lot as the compromise to stop the protests I witnessed occurring in and around Brussels.