Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Six months ago, people inside and outside the House were talking about a reduction in the Common Agricultural Policy budget of between 15% and 30% in actual terms. We are now talking about maintaining the position as is and trying to build on it. We have, therefore, come a long way and this progress should be recognised. We have not yet achieved this outcome and it is possible we will be disappointed by the results of the Commission meeting this evening. Let us wait and see what will be the outcome.

We have managed to gain some traction around issues such as food security and the need to protect food production and the farming base in the European Union in the years ahead. France and Germany have come on board in this effort. I pay tribute to officials in my Department who are working every week at European level to get the point across to people who have not shown a significant interest in the food industry and farming that food is a very important industry for the European Union from a food security point of view and must be protected.

On the issue the Deputy raised, there will be a long debate on how the overall fund is distributed and redistributed among countries which have done well in the past from the Common Agricultural Policy and countries which have not done so well. There will also be a debate on how Ireland spends the overall national envelope from CAP. I will continue to argue that we should have the flexibility to decide the most appropriate way to spend the funds we receive from the European Union to promote our priorities for farming, which are different from the priorities of many other countries.

See this speech in context