Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cairns. I have a couple of comments on the policies of this Government and what we are doing for farmers. The budget for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine this year has increased by 11% in trying to support farm families, which demonstrates the prioritisation we give to supporting farmers in the work they do. I am progressing work on establishing a food ombudsman's office and I have just closed the consultation process on that. It again demonstrates the commitment to transparency in the food supply chain. Those are two very clear examples.

The Deputy mentioned the REAP scheme, which was five times oversubscribed. Farmers really recognised how beneficial it was to them. It is easy to quibble about certain elements of the scheme but the bottom line is that when farmers looked at it in detail, despite much of the protest we might have seen in the Dáil, they realised the benefit of the scheme in terms of income and accessibility. Unfortunately, we could not accommodate everybody as it was a pilot scheme constrained by the terms and conditions of the transition period under the CAP. There is nothing secretive about why 6,000 more participants could not get into it. I managed to push it as far as I could so that 5,000 people could participate, despite the constraints.

The Deputy has mentioned before matters relating to convergence and redistribution and I will clarify them. While in opposition, my position was not that there would be 100% convergence. I am clarifying that so the Deputy does not repeat her comments to that effect. My position was that we should continue the convergence pathway to 75% during the transition period. Convergence would benefit my county very significantly but I have always recognised what a challenging issue it is. It is not something that should be arbitrarily decided by a Minister, or even worse, by Europe. That is what many people here are saying. It should be decided in consultation with farmers right across the country, and it is what I plan to do over the summer. I plan to consult all farmers, including those in the Deputy's constituency, my county and everywhere else. This is really important to all farmers and they should be involved with it.

This is not about a Deputy coming here and asking what a Minister will do or decide. My position is that I will engage with everybody in putting together a national CAP plan to try to get as fair as possible an approach to what is a very challenging matter. It is absolutely the right approach. I look forward to the Deputy's engagement and views on that as well.

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