Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To go back to the point I did not have time to finish earlier, the €79 million in additional funding for next year is in regard to additional environmental measures. It will be spent in a variety of ways. A fair proportion of that will be open to all farmers - those currently in GLAS and those not - and there is also going to be a pilot environmental scheme for those who are not currently in GLAS, for whom this is being rolled over. That is something I will be consulting on shortly with farming organisations, perhaps into the start of the year, and we will then have it up and running early in the year.

On the framework and how the next CAP will look, there is going to be a change in regard to pillar 1 because we are going to have the eco scheme as part of that. That is going to have to set a baseline of conditionality that will then be built upon in regard to pillar 2. I will be consulting very widely with farming organisations and farmers, and within the political system as well, in regard to how we structure that and what schemes we put in place. Obviously, they will have to meet the general requirements at EU level but we will have a lot of discretion at national level. I will consult widely on that to ensure it is practical and will deliver as well as possible for farmers.

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