Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is aware that I sent my ideas to him in March in respect of the sectors that could benefit from this reserve. The difficulty is that farmers are told that there is a pot of €1 billion to support those who are impacted by Brexit, and although their sector is potentially most impacted, they have not got a fair share as of yet. We know that there are significant challenges facing the sector, in particular as a result of input costs soaring in the past year or so.

Unfortunately, the European crisis reserve was not utilised through co-financing. We have not seen the benefit of the €1.5 billion from carbon tax receipts that we were told would be additional to the CAP. Instead, they were incorporated into the CAP. In terms of the Brexit adjustment reserve, I fear that farmers will not get their fair share. Of course, I am happy to work with the Minister in any way I can to support his efforts, but can we ensure that this issue is prioritised across the Government?

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