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

That is exactly what the negotiations are about, how to redistribute within a country and the flexibility to be given to countries while at the same time ensuring there is significant redistribution. We do not want a figleaf with regard to the redistribution of money. There are people who got a raw deal under direct payments in the past, because of their position during the years when entitlements were formed. For whatever reason they did not have the productivity in those years to be able to build up a decent entitlement. There are also new entrants into farming and young farmers who have very low payments. There are people on very poor land who have very low payments. We must ensure those payments increase quite significantly. However, we must also factor in the reality that many farmers are very productive and are investing in further growth, expansion and innovation. They are using their single farm payment to do that and have borrowed on that basis.

There should not be such a dramatic redistribution that it would fundamentally undermine the productivity of many farmers in Ireland. We are trying to manage the redistribution. Clearly, the more one gets in a single farm payment at present, the more one will be asked to contribute to redistribution and the less one gets at present, the more one will benefit from that. Whether there is a mandatory or voluntary minimum payment is still up for discussion. There are other elements countries will be able to use such as, for example, a payment for the first 30 or 32 hectares. If countries wish to adopt that approach, the three institutions do not have an issue with that. We will know the options we have by the end of June, and this country will have to use the options that best suit the Irish agricultural system. We will have a debate once we know what tools are available to us.

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