Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy is correct that those are pertinent issues and when the committee is established, a number of them will be considered. That approach will be more than beneficial as we will hear what Members have to say. I have grave concerns about a number of issues, particularly compulsory modulation. Farmers need political stability to proceed in the decoupled era and I expressed that concern to the Commissioner during recent discussions. Our ideas will not be firmed up until we receive the communications but I have laid out the parameters within which I wish to work.

I have to be convinced about the standardisation of the single payment model because the EU has 21 such models and Ireland has developed an historical model, which is more beneficial. It is very unclear what the Commission is seeking regarding thresholds and they may not be necessarily where we want to be in the future under the single payment scheme. The Deputy is correct that I would like changes to be made regarding cross compliance so that there are more flexibilities. Checks and balances are in place under the single payment scheme. While inspections are provided for, strict rules and regulations are applied to the transfer of animals and products entering the food chain. Greater simplification is needed on the cross compliance issue. I have grave concerns about modulation but few member states have such concerns. Many of the new member states are more anxious to move from the first to the second phase into rural development because they do not have a significant investment in the single farm payment scheme and rural development is more important to them. Equally, our colleagues in the UK, who are anxious to implement compulsory modulation, are not prepared to move on many other aspects of the single payment scheme. The Deputy is correct that we do not have firm parameters within which to work but we have set down a number of issues which will be pertinent to the discussions.

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