Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The modelling carried out by my Department has shown that a flat rate system, whereby a flat rate would be applied throughout the country without breaking the country up into different regions, would result in 74,000 farmers gaining under the single farm payment while 56,000 farmers would lose. That is if we were to adopt the Commission's proposal and to designate Ireland as one big region in which one gives every farmer the same payment, which is the average payment of €270 per hectare. I believe that is very unlikely to happen. Even under the Commission's proposal, the Commissioner would be expecting countries such as Ireland to break their country up into different regions and to apply flat rate payments per region.

People are having a go at me because of the position I have taken on behalf of Ireland in disagreeing with the Commission's proposal. There is an idea that if we adopted the Commission's proposal, every farmer in the country would get €270 per hectare. That is not an accurate reflection of reality.

Single farm payment should not be treated purely as an income support measure or some type of welfare support measure. It was never intended to be that. Single farm payment is about supporting sustainable food production on farmland across Europe. It is a recognition payment for farmers who must abide by all manner of rules, regulations, directives, animal husbandry constraints and so forth which other parts of the world do not apply with the same rigour as they are applied in the EU. The roles of pillar 1 and pillar 2 are very different. The decision I have made in terms of how I have positioned Ireland in the negotiations is not about the number of gainers or losers, but about the best interests of agriculture as a whole over the next seven years to ensure we remain productive and competitive and keep people in the business.

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