Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The new legislative proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy 2021-2027 were launched on Friday, 1 June 2018 by Commissioner Hogan. The Commission proposals, as drafted, involve significant changes, including in relation to governance, the distribution of direct payments among farmers and the environmental conditionality attaching to such payments.

They provide for additional discretion for member states in configuring the new measures available, within parameters laid down in the draft proposals. The new Commission proposals commit to a more significant environmental ambition than the current CAP schemes, including in Pillar 1, where an eco measure, which would be mandatory for member states, but voluntary for farmers, is provided for. It is too early to say how such a scheme might be configured.

The proposals also preserve the basic architecture of the current CAP. It is clear that they envisage measures that support farmers in areas of natural constraint, those who adopt environmental or climate friendly actions, collaborative actions such as farm partnerships, young farmers taking over holdings for the first time, on farm investments, risk management tools and knowledge exchange and information.

We are now at the beginning of what will be intensive and challenging negotiations on the final shape of these draft regulations. I intend to work with the Commission and other member states to shape these proposals into an effective new Common Agricultural Policy. My Department is still analysing the proposals and their potential implications for the Irish agrifood sector.

I have always sought to have a broad consultation on these proposals. Earlier in the year, my Department engaged in a national consultation involving six meetings with stakeholders across the country. In addition, on 4 July, I hosted a conference on the new CAP legislative proposals for interested stakeholders, including farm bodies, State agencies and the environmental pillar. The Deputy, along with other members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, were invited to participate in this conference, and I appreciate the fact the Deputy was there for the full day. This was a timely opportunity to bring all interested stakeholders together for a constructive discussion on the future CAP. The range of speakers came from the political sphere, from the European Commission and from my Department. The conference was a very useful opportunity to hear the views of the many stakeholders involved.

Over the coming months there will be detailed negotiations at all levels across the European Union as we work together to shape the final outcome. At the centre of all our considerations will be the need to ensure that CAP post-2020, properly funded, will continue to support farm families and the rural economy. The current draft proposals must be agreed at European Union Council level. Whenever the agreed final EU Council position on the CAP proposals is reached, the proposals will then be discussed at trilogues involving the EU Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Agricultural Ministers.

These processes must all be worked through and concluded before a final text can be agreed. I will be working with my colleagues in Europe to ensure that the final CAP regulations can support farm families in the many challenges they face.

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