Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will focus my comments on the CAP budget. The CAP is a cornerstone of the EU's formation. Unfortunately, in recent years, we have seen the importance of the CAP being eroded. It was the key policy objective of various Governments in the history of the EU but now it has slipped to No. 4 in importance. The family farm structure of which we are so proud in rural Ireland is under serious threat and if we do not restore the CAP as a top priority of EU policy that structure, it will disappear.

We can speak about the financial framework and what cuts will come in the budget, but the reality is that since the MacSharry reforms, when we went from price supports to direct payments to farmers, the real value of the payment has dropped enormously. Now, it is proposed to take another €4 billion out of the budget. Over the lifetime of direct payments, their value in real terms has dropped by more than 40%. This is why the average age of our farmers is so high and we do not have youth entering the farming sector. This is the case not only in Ireland, where obviously the importance of our agrifood industry is huge, with €13.6 billion of exports and 174,000 people employed. The family farm structure is important throughout the EU. We have to reverse this policy and ensure that rural Ireland is protected. It does not really matter whether the cuts are proposed in respect of Pillar 1 or Pillar 2 because family farm incomes are at an extremely low base. Unless we get serious about supporting our family farm structure, rural Ireland and rural Europe as we know them will change forever.

If we do not arrest this change in this financial framework plan, it will be too late. In the past six months, we have seen farmer protests in this country such as we have not seen in a long time. We can argue about convergence and the flattening of payments but the reality is that unless money is put into the CAP, our family farm structure will disappear.

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