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

The European Commission refers to what is called a 30:30 greening obligation on farmers. That means that 30% of pillar 2 moneys will be guaranteed to be spent on environmental schemes, and 30% of a farmer's payment will be withheld unless he or she passes the greening criteria. If somebody is on €400 or €500 per hectare versus someone on €150 per hectare, one needs the incentive for the person on a higher payment to ensure they implement the greening criteria. We have tried to simplify this for farmers whereby 30% of their payment will be withheld unless they pass the greening criteria. That is what I mean when I say that the incentive must be the same. Otherwise people on higher payments will not have the same incentive to abide by the greening criteria. I do not think that would be a sensible policy perspective.

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