Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The coming reform of the CAP will determine the shape of agriculture in Ireland and the rest of Europe for the next six years and beyond. Our guiding principles in the negotiations must be the productivity targets set out in Food Harvest 2020, fairness and equity in payment distribution, encouragement for younger people to take up farming and the sustainability of family farms, in particular the sustainability of farms in particularly disadvantaged areas such as the west and north-west, the area I represent. Central to the evolving negotiations is the proposal to move to a flat rate per hectare payment in place of the current single farm payment which is based on historical entitlements and subsidies received in the reference year. There is a big imbalance in the system of payments, with larger producers receiving a grossly higher payment than farmers with smaller land holdings. What is needed is a proper redistribution of the payments to reflect a more equitable system of payments for farmers.

There is general acceptance that the reference year is gone. We need a better thought out mechanism to facilitate new entrants, particularly young new entrants, to farming. While I do not know what the solution is, I know we need some well thought out mechanism to achieve this objective.

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