Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach's confirmation that the farming and agrifood sector is at the heart of all Government deliberations at Cabinet and subcommitee levels. That is important because 175,000 people are employed in the sector and it is responsible for 10% of Irish exports. It has faced particular challenges over the past number of years, including CAP reform. In 2014, the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission effectively and unfortunately reduced the budget for CAP. That was a bad decision. At the same time, one third of the EU budget until 2027 will go to CAP, a total of €387 billion.

The farming community wants a clear message that the national co-financing commitments that were made will be honoured over the next number of years and that the €1.5 billion from the carbon tax fund will be allocated to the farming sector. There is often a lazy and ill-informed narrative with regard to farming and climate change. Farmers have adapted and modernised their systems. Our food production systems are sustainable and in the climate debate, while we all know there must be improvements from every sector in that regard, we must ensure that sustainable food production systems in Europe are not displaced by food being imported from areas in South America and elsewhere where forests are being felled to make land arable.

The Common Agricultural Policy was established to ensure a secure supply of safe food for the citizens of Europe. It provides income support to farmers but it also ensures that there is continuity of sustainable production of food, which is very important, and plays a key role in the environment and in ensuring we have people living in rural Ireland. Our commitment must be absolute to ensuring that additional financial support is provided through national co-financing, alongside CAP-supported schemes. We all know that if we are to have a vibrant rural Ireland, our farming and agrifood sectors must be the lead economic drivers in that regard.

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