Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Sherlock for his broad support for our approach to date. That was amplified very clearly at the joint committee meeting with the Commissioner. We are one of the few countries where the office of the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

The Deputy asked a question about capping and a ceiling on payments. There will be a strange group of people with like minded views in opposition to our views on that. I met the British Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, Mr. Paice, last Monday morning and we discussed this issue. The British are totally opposed to a capping measure, as are the eastern European countries, because they have different farm structures to our own, some of which is due to their history.

Members should focus clearly on a number of issues. Further simplification is required, even in advance of the CAP reform, as is flexibility. There is the question of the distribution of funds between member states and in that distribution, account must also be taken of the different costs of production and living between member states. Some arguments that are made, particularly by the 12 newly-acceded member states, do not stack up and Ireland has carried out plenty of research to back up our particular arguments.

Flexibility is also required. A concern I have regarding some of the matters contained in the Commission's communication is that they would be moving away from simplification. I believe measures such as the greening issue, tiered payments and so on all would mean additional bureaucracy.

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