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

The Council has taken into account the debate that has been happening in rural Ireland. I am now trying to give the Government as many options as possible in terms of flexibility.

This is in order that when we conclude, hopefully by the end of June, a political agreement with the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council on what CAP reform will look like, we will have a series of options and flexibilities which we can decide on how best to use for Ireland in terms of taking the agri-food industry, agriculture and farming forward in a progressive way that helps people who need a leg-up, those on disadvantaged land who need support and that helps people who are planning significant expansion and growth to proceed through Pillar 1 money and rural development money. Both need to come hand-in-hand and they complement each other. Certainly, we will work on getting the maximum flexibilities in order that we can design a system for Ireland that suits agricultural production here. That will include a series of measures including the potential for coupling; the potential from switching money between Pillar 1 and Pillar 2; the potential for a redistributive payment, which has been discussed a good deal, or for an extra payment for the first 20 or 30 hectares; and the redistributive model that we have been discussing.

All these flexibilities are part of the discussion that we are trying to agree on at the moment. As part of this we will also be discussing an overall cap. I have said that I supported Deputy Ferris's suggestion several months ago that a cap of €100,000 would be appropriate in Ireland. We have no agreement on that because the view of the Council of Ministers was that €150,000 should be the figure. I am obliged to respect the strong majority decision there. Other countries will apply no cap, because it is voluntary. We will have to see what the discussions and debates with the Parliament and Commission result in before the end of June.

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