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

I reassure Deputy Healy-Rae that the GAEC 2 proposals will not have negative impacts for farmers. These baseline elements were agreed as part of the CAP strategic plan in 2021. Ireland had a derogation in 2022 and 2023 while we put a proposal together. We are the last remaining country in Europe to make a proposal in this space. We would have been in breach since 1 January 2025 if we did not do that this year and I am not willing, as Minister for agriculture, to subject the State or our CAP funding to potential fines of €100 million per year. At the heart of the proposal we have put to the Commission and on which we consulted all of the farming bodies, including the INHFA and many others - I accept their points of concern but I disagree with them - is an approach that will allow farmers in the GAEC 2 area who have more than 50% of peat in their soil to continue their normal agricultural activity, continue to plough, reseed and maintain drains-----

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