Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

We need to work on them. If the constant reply is to be "The previous Government signed up to it", why have an election? The issues are on the Government's desk. This is a desperate plight for dairy farmers. Regarding CAP, the expert advice is to gear up for post-2015 milk quotas. Our competitors abroad have the capacity to gear up because they are starting from low bases and their farmers will be in a better position to take the benefits post-2015, yet we are being held back. As the Minister knows, the best dairy farmers in Ireland are being held back. They are making decisions at farm gate level that are not acceptable and are not good practice, but they must make them to avoid a super levy.

The essence of the motion is the importance of CAP to every part of the farming sector. We must ensure that the direct payments agreed under the last health check will continue. Among the farming community, there is a concern regarding the documents leaked in August, a slow time in Brussels, namely, that the EU might be trying to pull back on something. Following the introduction of legislative proposals in the next month or six weeks, the period of discussion up to and including 2012 and the final decision being taken in early 2013, it will behove us all, in particular the Minister, to be able to say that the best deal for Irish agriculture was attained. We must ensure that the primary producer gets the best out of the deal. The statistics that are always used against CAP and farmers are to the effect that individuals are getting €500,000 and that the greatest benefactors are wealthy aristocrats in Europe. We must ensure that the money is given to the producer at the farm gate.

The agriculture team on this side of the Houses - Deputies Browne and Kirk, Senator Ó Domhnaill and I - visited Brussels in June and will have further discussions on the issues concerning CAP and the milk quota as we see them. When the negotiations conclude, a cap should be placed to ensure some people do not benefit significantly. The figure constantly trotted out is that 20% of farmers are receiving 80% of the payments. This is no longer acceptable and we must examine it. We have a year and a half before the negotiations will be signed off. We must start now and ensure these are the issues that are brought to the fore.

I commend the motion to the House. I ask the Minister to take our views on the CAP very seriously. I ask him earnestly to ensure that, at the meetings next Tuesday, the issue of milk quotas and the plight of the best milk producers in the country will be addressed adequately and that common sense will apply. We have seen regulations coming from the European Union from time to time in respect of which the common sense was not the best. We have a product that is needed and saleable in the European Union and the world market. We now need to address the issues I have raised in a very serious and compelling way. I commend the motion to the House.

See this speech in context