Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It will not be a matter of what I or my officials do whenever it comes to our national CAP plan. It will be a matter of engaging fully with farmers throughout the country on what our plan should look like, and fully consulting everyone before I, as Minister, make any calls on that. My approach in Europe has been to ensure we have as much national discretion as possible to set our own destiny in this regard.

On the Deputy's point regarding the transition period and my position in advance of the election, which was that we should continue convergence during the transition period and move gradually towards the 75%, it was already clear it was going to be set at European level and, obviously, it may go higher in the trilogue process. It was too late this year to put in place any additional step towards that 75% because of the practical challenges in setting that. This is why there was no step towards the 75% this year, and it was simply due to practical considerations. That is now going to be overtaken by the wider decision on what the ultimate level of convergence will be, and that will happen after consultations with farmers.

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