Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy O'Sullivan raises valid points. The thing that strikes me when he is talking is that farmers are no different from any other business people. Anybody in business will tell us they can take difficult conditions once they have certainty. If they have certainty, they know where they are at. When things change it is a source of great frustration.

It is important when we talk about the CAP to reflect on its history. The first draft of the current CAP was produced in 2019. It was on foot of Brexit and Britain's 10% contribution to the overall multi-annual financial framework being reduced. Phil Hogan was Commissioner at the time. Money had to be clawed back through environmental and other measures to make sure the overall CAP budget was not reduced and we had to then try to make that fit. We are in a different world now compared to 2019, following the invasion of Ukraine and Covid. I have consistently felt that there was a complacency in Europe before that time, albeit less so now, around what the CAP did. Europe initially was a peace project and the CAP was fundamental to that, providing food security. The biggest source of conflict around the world is hunger and famine. Just as Europe got a little bit complacent about peace in Europe, we got a little bit complacent about food security as well. Ireland did not. We have always been to the fore pushing the importance of the CAP. The next CAP discussions will start soon. The current CAP ends and the new one has to be ready to go in 2027. We will have discussions starting on the CAP and, with Ireland in the Presidency in 2026, we will have a key role in finalising that CAP. Those discussions will start from next year. We will need to make sure we have a strong CAP that is protected with a strong budget and is simpler for farmers. I fully accept the frustrations the Deputy described. I hear them as well. Working with European partners and having that focus in the Government, we will be able to make it simpler for farmers the next time around and make sure the focus is on food security and producing the top-quality food that our farmers produce the length and breadth of this country.

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