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

It is good to have an opportunity once again to talk about agriculture. In regard to the future of CAP, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Phil Hogan, has managed this issue in a way that is politically intelligent. He has already launched a document on the future of CAP, which will allow us to have that discussion early in the context of the negotiation that will undoubtedly take place around the multi-annual financial framework for the EU budget post-2020. This affords us an opportunity to address, at an early stage, the need to prioritise CAP.

Payments under the Common Agricultural Policy contribute hugely to the economy, with the current round representing some €12 billion in payments to Irish farming families over its lifetime. That is broken down into direct payments and payments under the various rural development schemes, some of which the Deputy mentioned. The last round of CAP facilitated a very ambitious transformation of agriculture in Ireland in terms of recognising environmental responsibilities, improving technology within the sector, and exploiting the extraordinary and sustainable opportunities in this country for growth and expansion in agriculture and farming generally. We want to continue that progress into the next round of CAP. We have an Irish Commissioner who understands that thinking, but it will be up to the Government to form alliances across the European Union with other countries which value and prioritise the supports that allow us to have a sustainable and growing food sector and to support farming families into the future. That is partially a job for me as well as being a job for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, and, at the highest level of EU summits and so on, a job for the Taoiseach. We must seek to focus on how money will be spent in the future, particularly given the significant reduction in available EU funds that will arise due to the departure of the United Kingdom. Brexit is estimated to create a shortfall in funding of between €12 billion to €14 billion per year, which is one of the pressing reasons that agriculture and the future CAP must be prioritised from our perspective.

In regard to the domestic delivery of particular schemes, I can get back to the Deputy if he has specific questions. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has, year after year, undertaken a very ambitious programme of roll-out and increased expenditure during the lifetime of the rural development programme. The Minister is anxious to deliver on that undertaking.

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