Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I will have to revise a number of my remarks because I had very much hoped I would be having a discussion with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine this evening. Of course, that is no disrespect to the Minister of State.

One of the fundamental problems I had with the Minister's approach to the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, strategic plan is that he refused even to indulge us with a debate prior to submitting the plan. He refused to bring it before the House for approval and refused to bring it before the Oireachtas committee for consideration. Perhaps if he had done either of those things, we in this House and those of us who understand the importance of the Common Agricultural Policy to the future of not only Irish farming but the rural communities that depend on our family farmers, collectively, would now be in a better position. As it stands, the Minister essentially has to own the correspondence he has received from the European Commission because the strategic plan was his and his alone. He was very forceful in that regard. That was despite the fact that he resisted some of what I would describe as the progressive measures that were sought at EU level in respect of the next round of the Common Agricultural Policy. The reason he gave for opposing those measures at a European level was that they should be made at a national level and made democratically, whereby those people who will be impacted would have an opportunity to engage, but then he did not follow through, as I said.

There is quite an amount to take in from the observation. It is a detailed critique. I saw one report describe the European Commission as "less than pleased" with the Irish CAP strategic plan, which seems a fair, if understated, description given that, essentially, the Commission has rejected the Irish CAP strategic plan. I do not agree with the view and the analysis in everything the European Commission has said. In some areas it makes points we in this House made in advance of this plan being developed within Agriculture House, that is, points about redistributive measures, particularly in respect of organics and the need to promote and support farmers making transitions to mixed farming or other types of farming. Some of the aspects of the report are frankly mind-boggling. There is a line in the correspondence that states: "... the Commission has doubts [as to] whether [or not] what is proposed goes far enough. In this context, it particularly has in mind the substantial growth in the size of the Irish dairy herd in recent years...". The substantial growth in the size of the Irish dairy herd is a direct result of the EU's removal of quotas, which led to an expansion of the herd in Ireland and also a corresponding, or almost corresponding, decrease in the size of the herd in other EU member states.

My questions, which I hope will be dealt with in the Minister of State's response, are as follows. What will the Minister's approach now be in how he deals with this? Does he intend to engage with all stakeholders? Does he intend to engage with this House before he responds to the European Commission? What status does he give the comments the European Commission has made? Does he consider its reflections to be binding on him to make amendments or does he consider them simply to be commentary that he can ignore?

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am taking it because the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is away on official business. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on the matter.

The receipt of the observations letter from the European Commission on 31 March marks another important milestone in the development of Ireland’s CAP strategic plan for the period 2023 to 2027. Ireland is one of the 19 member states that submitted plans ahead of the statutory deadline of 1 January last and to which the Commission is now responding following an assessment by all of the relevant Commission services, including those responsible for agriculture, climate and the environment.

The Commission has carried out a comprehensive assessment of Ireland’s draft plan. The observations, which number over 200, set out high-level and more detailed technical observations. The letter acknowledges the quality of the plan. It notes the coherency of the plan, the level of completeness covering all of the specific objectives of the CAP and the European Commission recommendations. It notes that potential to contribute effectively to a competitive, resilient and diversified agricultural sector that ensures long term food security. From an environment and climate perspective, it welcomes the ambitious approach to landscape actions through the flagship agri-environment and climate measure, AECM, which will benefit water, biodiversity and climate, as well as the setting of a national target for the European Green Deal, including our significant ambition in organics, nutrient loss and landscape fixtures. However, areas have been identified where the Commission considers that we have an opportunity to strengthen our ambition and to set higher targets. They are requesting more information on the extent of environmental benefit that will be achieved by some interventions, including the new eco-scheme intervention. They note also the environmental challenges resulting from the substantial growth in the dairy herd. The Commission has also asked all member states to review their plans in the context of the impacts arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In terms of next steps, the Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has already provided an initial reaction by way of written response to the observations to the Commission. I understand that the Commission intends to publish the observation letters of all 19 member states and their responses shortly. The Department has already published the Commission’s observation letter on the Government website.

The Department officials are currently in regular bilateral discussions with the European Commission to finalise the plan. The approval process will be a continuation of the structured dialogue with the Commission. The latter has proven to be very effective to date. The officials will provide the necessary clarifications and explanations in more detail around the level of environmental gain expected from the interventions. We consider that all elements of the green architecture must be considered as a package. There has been extensive engagement with the stakeholders. The plan strikes the right balance to support the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the sector. Other supports outside of CAP will also be required to achieve climate and environmental targets, including regulation, industry market initiatives and new technologies and innovations.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will continue to consult with stakeholders as the approval process unfolds over the coming months. A meeting of the CAP stakeholder consultative committee is scheduled for Friday of this week. It is anticipated that work will intensify over the coming weeks to reach agreement on the draft plan before the summer break. It is anticipated that the final CAP strategic plan for Ireland will be adopted by September of this year, allowing the new CAP plan to begin as planned on 1 January 2023.

Overall, the Minister and the Department are confident that the CAP plan is robust, that it will support farm incomes and that it helps deliver on our climate ambitions. The Minister asked me to inform Deputy Carthy that if he has any specific questions, I will take them on board and feed them back to the Minister.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for that, but I could have sent the Minister an email with the questions. I would have thought that the purpose of Topical Issue debates is that we could have a debate on a matter such as this. If the Minister is unavoidably absent, then we accept that. In fairness to the Minister, he is one of the better Cabinet Ministers at attending for Topical Issue debates. I want to put on the record that this whole process needs to be reviewed. I do not believe it is fair on the Minister of State or me to be here at 10 p.m. to have a debate whereby I ask her questions and she then relays them to the Minister.

I will say this, and maybe the Minister of State will take this point back, because I will take the Minister up on that specific offer of questions. Does the Minister see a difficulty in the response, which indicates that the Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has already provided an initial reaction by way of written response to the Commission on the observations? The Commission has seen the Government's response to its observations. We, as elected representatives, have seen the observations. Farmers have seen the observations. However, we have not seen what the Secretary General, on behalf of the people, of farmers and of the agriculture sector, has said. I would have hoped that a topical issues debate, like this one, would have been an opportunity to, rather than just passing on an oversight of what is in the observations and which we can all find out, to hear what the Government has said specifically in respect of those observations.

The crucial question must be asked again: what is the status of this observations? Are they binding? Are we expected? Are we obliged? Will it be a matter for individual governments? How can the assertion be made with such confidence that a final agreement will be reached by the summer break so that the CAP can actually proceed as planned on 1 January next? These are legitimate questions and I hope that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine will be forthcoming in a public way as soon as possible in answering them.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. In response to his question about when the letter relating to the observations will be published, it has already been published on the Department's website. The Commission intends to publish all the member states’ letters and member states’ responses on it website shortly. That is the answer I have in relation to that matter. The officials are working through the observations with the Commission and will consider if changes are required as we move through the process over the coming weeks. Some elements are technical. Others may require further explanation. Stakeholders will be kept advised through the CAP stakeholder consultative committee.

I will communicate to the Minister the questions the Deputy has posed. I thank him for his time.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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That concludes the Topical Issues debate. Sin deireadh le gnó le Dála don lá inniu.