Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I outlined our preferred option and I do not believe there will be any disagreement in this House. There was no disagreement in the committee on the occasions I attended. We want direct payments retained. We want adequate and improved market support measures. That reflects the important comment the Deputy made earlier about income stabilisation. We must have adequate anti-volatility measures which are not currently within the European Union. We also want to ensure that pillar 1 is the prime pillar. Pillar 2 is important from the point of view of the environment and the provision of public goods.

I see that in most of the public commentary Commissioner Keolas makes now, whether it is a presentation to the European Parliament or another country. An issue I discussed with him in his first week in office was the need at this time, in advance of the conclusions and the budgetary allocations, to get the message across that CAP is not about farming but is for the benefit of every citizen in the 27 member states. That message has not got out successfully in the past and we would hope that in advance of decisions being made by the Commission, there is a recognition and an awareness of the importance of an adequate and well-resourced CAP. If we do not get off to a good footing in that regard, we will have an even bigger hill to climb.

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