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

I am very concerned about the overall allocation for pillar 2 payments. We have a clear outline of what the Commission is proposing in respect of redistribution of pillar 1 payments between countries. Ireland was a significant contributor to designing the model, which is called approximation. With regard to pillar 2, it is very unclear and people are talking about using objective criteria and historical application of pillar 2 moneys. I made the case very strongly that the idea that Ireland would lose on both pillars is something we cannot support. Unfortunately, when Heads of State meet towards the end of the month to agree the multi-annual financial framework, the seven-year budget for the EU, and the amount of money allocated for CAP for pillar 1 and pillar 2, many of the key decisions on the amount of money countries can access will be taken by Heads of State. That is why I will be going to Brussels with the Taoiseach for the negotiations. Even though most of the talk has been about pillar 1 because we have more detail about the proposals, for much of the country pillar 2 is just as important, if not more important, than pillar 1. When we calculate how farmers have done per hectare in different counties, many of the calculations take into account solely pillar 1 moneys, single farm payments. When we add pillar 2 moneys to the calculation, the figures are very different.

See this speech in context