Dáil debates

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Other Questions

Common Agricultural Policy Reform

3:35 pm

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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100. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans under the Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals to assist and support young farmers who have been farming for more than five years to build a viable farming enterprise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6310/14]

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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We will move on to Question No. 100 in the name of Deputy McConalogue who is present.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I was not expecting to get in - it was well worth my while coming in early. What are the Minister's plans under the Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals to assist young farmers who have been farming for more than five years to build a viable farming enterprise? As the Minister is aware, the agreement on which he signed off in Brussels confined a definition of "young farmers" to those who have started farming now or any time within the past five years. That is my understanding of it. There is a significant category of farmers who are under the age of 30 or in their early thirties who have been farming for more than five years, many of whom are in receipt of very low single farm payments. If we are serious about trying to keep young farmers in farming - it is not only about attracting in new farmers which we must do - we have to provide a viable future for those who are already in the industry. I do not see how the Minister's proposals are doing that. What are his plans in this respect?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is a reasonable question. During the negotiations at European level I have been very strongly in support of positively discriminating in favour of young farmers because we need generational change in this industry. Fewer than 6% of farmers are under the age of 35 in Ireland and that is no basis for the kind of growth and expansion we want for this sector. Everybody agrees we need more young farmers. What we are trying to do in terms of the 25% top-up on single farm payments up to 50 hectares, which is about €16,000 for the highest earners in that category over five years, is to give people a good start in farming to allow them to invest in building up their herds, their yards and so on. If a person is 38 years of age and he or she has been farming since he or she was 25 years of age, is he or she in the same category as a person who is 38 years of age who has been farming only since 36 years of age? One is a new and young farmer and the other is a farmer who has been farming for quite some time. One could also make the case that a person who is 41 years of age who has been engaged in farming only for the past two or three years should benefit from this because he or she is a relatively young farmer as opposed to a person who is in his or her late thirties who has been farming for ten or 15 years. We have only so much money to spend here and we had to categorise the type of farmer who would get a conversation going in farm families between parents and sons and daughters to hand over those farms to those sons and daughters, to get generational change in agriculture which is what this money is targeted at achieving. The cut-off point is farmers who have come into farming in the past five years and farmers who were under the age of 40; they will get a payment for up to five years as long as they remain under the age of 40. I thought that was a reasonable compromise and balance. We fought hard for it. Many countries did not want this to be a mandatory measure but because of the stand taken by Ireland and a number of other countries, along with the Commissioner I might add, this is now a mandatory measure across the European Union for all countries, including Ireland.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I disagree with the Minister that this is a reasonable proposal. He has said that 6% of farmers are under the age of 35. He outlined that he has confined the young farmer categorisation to those who are under the age of 40 and who have just started farming now or within the past five years. He has admitted that he has made no effort or no provision for those who are under the age of 35 and who have been farming for more than five years.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is because we cannot; the regulation does not allow it.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is the person who negotiated the regulation. I cite the example of a young farmer who is 32 years of age who has a payment per hectare of €100 because historically more than ten years ago the farm was not farmed as extensively as it is now. That farmer - there are many of them - is considering whether he or she can continue to have a future in farming. Such farmers thought that the Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals would offer them a fair deal, in that, because they are now the persons who are farming they would have the opportunity, based on what they are doing at present, to get a fairer deal and have a viable future in the industry. The Minister has not given them a categorisation which would see them benefit or give them a viable future.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister do something in regard to the national reserve which would give such farmers a future and a fairer deal than that which he has given them, which is nothing more than what he has given to a person who has been in farming for all of his or her working life?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The idea that anybody would be trying to sell this as a bad deal for young farmers-----

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister explain what is in this for them?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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-----is not doing justice to the new Common Agricultural Policy deal. There is more being done for young farmers in this Common Agricultural Policy reform than we have ever seen before.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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What is the Minister doing for that farmer? What is he or she getting?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is because of a stand Ireland, along with a number of other countries to support the Commission, took to try to get this mandatory measure of positive discrimination in favour of young farmers over the line. It was a success and acknowledged as such-----

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is failing young farmers.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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-----by young farming organisations. The Deputy is trying to pick case studies from around the country whereby he wants money to be given to everybody.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Yes. What about the farmer I mentioned? There are many more like him. What is the Minister doing for such farmers? Will he address that question?

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Allow the Minister to conclude.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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When we have a limited amount of money to spend, we have to prioritise who gets it. We have prioritised young farmers in their first years of farming. They will get priority treatment and that is what they will get under the negotiated Common Agricultural Policy, which has been welcomed by practically everybody except the Deputy.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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For some, it may be their last year in farming as the Minister is not giving them a fair deal.