Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

The point made by Deputy Sherlock is that, regardless of the mechanism, we need to have some stability in income. We need to put a floor on farmers' incomes. The best way this has been achieved to date is through the direct payment system. Allied to the stabilisation of income, we also need to achieve stability through anti-volatility measures. As I have said in the House a number of times, there will be a major effort to retain the budget for CAP. We have all discussed that and agreed that the first priority for CAP post-2013 is to ensure the system is adequately resourced.

There are conflicting views around the table at the Council of Ministers about how payments should be disbursed. We are in favour of retaining the historical model of direct payments and ensuring that pillar 1 of CAP is the prime pillar. There is also the provision of public goods through the wider rural development programme and the environmental pillar. We must try to make the industry more competitive throughout Europe.

See this speech in context