Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It has always been my policy to conform to the highest standards when it comes to stakeholder and public consultation. I believe farmer engagement, through farm organisations as well as directly with farmers in my tour of the mart network last year, was really important in framing this CAP programme and the CAP strategic plan I submitted to Brussels.

This has been the case in the development of our CAP strategic plan, despite the difficulties posed by Covid-19 restrictions. I thank the many farmers in every county that I visited for their input. As we know there are many different views and it was really important to hear them all to ensure we could have as balanced a CAP proposal as possible.

The approach to consultation has been informed by three key principles: that there should be genuine engagement, that it should be targeted and easily accessible to those with a clear interest in the policy and that systematic efforts were made to ensure that all parties had an opportunity to take part at all stages of the policy process.

Consultation was carried out over the entire course of the plan’s development, including on the drafting of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, SWOT, analysis in summer 2019; the scoping report for the environmental assessment in spring 2021; the proposed interventions in August and September 2021; and the draft plan and strategic environmental assessment which concluded on 8 December 2021.

Consultation is still ongoing through the CAP consultative committee, which has met on 30 occasions since its establishment in May 2019. That encompasses all key farm representatives and key stakeholders in the sector.

My ministerial colleagues and I also consulted with a wide range of stakeholders, including through a series of in-person meetings in autumn 2021. The response has come back from the European Union and we believe we have submitted a strong and balanced CAP plan. We will be responding to the Commission's letter to us outlining the merits of the proposal we have. It is our objective to get approval for that and be ready to have all the schemes kicking off from January 2023.

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