Dáil debates

Thursday, 26 May 2022

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Common Agricultural Policy

11:20 am

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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124. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his response to the request of the European Commission to strengthen the application of the partnership principle with regard to the next CAP; if he intends to re-engage farm stakeholders with regard to a revised CAP strategic plan; and if he intends to bring a revised CAP strategic plan before Dáil Éireann for debate. [26960/22]

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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What does the Minister plan to do to strengthen the application of the partnership principle with regard to the next CAP? Further to the correspondence he received from the European Commission does he intend to re-engage with stakeholders? Will he ensure we have a collaborative approach to Ireland's implementation of the next Common Agricultural Policy?

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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It has always been my policy to conform to the highest standards when it comes to stakeholder and public consultation. I believe farmer engagement, through farm organisations as well as directly with farmers in my tour of the mart network last year, was really important in framing this CAP programme and the CAP strategic plan I submitted to Brussels.

This has been the case in the development of our CAP strategic plan, despite the difficulties posed by Covid-19 restrictions. I thank the many farmers in every county that I visited for their input. As we know there are many different views and it was really important to hear them all to ensure we could have as balanced a CAP proposal as possible.

The approach to consultation has been informed by three key principles: that there should be genuine engagement, that it should be targeted and easily accessible to those with a clear interest in the policy and that systematic efforts were made to ensure that all parties had an opportunity to take part at all stages of the policy process.

Consultation was carried out over the entire course of the plan’s development, including on the drafting of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, SWOT, analysis in summer 2019; the scoping report for the environmental assessment in spring 2021; the proposed interventions in August and September 2021; and the draft plan and strategic environmental assessment which concluded on 8 December 2021.

Consultation is still ongoing through the CAP consultative committee, which has met on 30 occasions since its establishment in May 2019. That encompasses all key farm representatives and key stakeholders in the sector.

My ministerial colleagues and I also consulted with a wide range of stakeholders, including through a series of in-person meetings in autumn 2021. The response has come back from the European Union and we believe we have submitted a strong and balanced CAP plan. We will be responding to the Commission's letter to us outlining the merits of the proposal we have. It is our objective to get approval for that and be ready to have all the schemes kicking off from January 2023.

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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That the consultation process on the CAP strategic plan was disappointing. Essentially stakeholders were invited to make submissions and that was it. Online public meetings were organised in a very unsatisfactory manner, with no ability for people to engage directly. While the mart meetings the Minister mentioned were still continuing, the strategic plans had all but been drafted. We need to be honest about that.

Am I correct that the Minister said that he plans to respond to the European Commission essentially making the case for the strategic plan as it is and that he has no plan to make any further amendments? The House deserves clarity on that important point.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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We put a massive effort into engaging and consulting. We never previously had such extensive consultation. There were many different views and I believe we reached a balanced and strong CAP plan. The mart meetings were very important. It had not been finalised at that stage; it fed into the finalisation of it. I visited 26 counties as part of that. We had a great engagement with the farmers who came along and contributed. There was great engagement from Oireachtas Members across all parties except the Deputy's. None of the county meetings I held had a Sinn Féin Oireachtas Member present. Many farmers, farm families and all the farming organisations were represented. Not once did a Sinn Féin Oireachtas Member turn up to those marts. At the very body where farm families come together to engage and discuss, the Deputy's party was entirely absent. I will not take any gyp from him on the consultation process.

The engagement now is with the Commission and it is important we have approval in place as soon as we can so that we can get these schemes up and running.

11:30 am

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister is at it again. He is playing games and trying to twist and spin things. It is beneath his office, I must say. The Minister has a very important job of work, that is, to ensure we have a Common Agricultural Policy that actually protects Irish agriculture for generations to come at a time when the industry is facing many challenges. The place of Oireachtas Members is not at marts and taking up speaking time that was made available to farmers in what was a limited consultation process. The place for Oireachtas Members to do their jobs is in this House, the Seanad and at meetings of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine that relate to this topic. The Minister was asked on several occasions to bring the CAP strategic plan before this House for approval. He refused to do so. He would not allow the type of scrutiny, consultation and collaboration that would have ensured he did not get a stinging rebuke from the European Commission. Had he done so, we would now have a CAP we could all be championing. This CAP will be having an impact long after the Minister is gone. It is not about him, his personal views or his play-acting. This is about Irish farming and the future of Irish agriculture. It is time for the Minister to get real. It is time to start engaging with us, as elected Members of this House, in a collaborative way so we can have a CAP we all support, which we all buy into and which will serve Irish farming into the next generation.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. The consultation process was done in a depth that was never done before. There has been immense opportunity for the Deputy's party and other parties to feed into that through the consultation process.

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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We did so and the Minister should put that on the record.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin did engage in the written consultation process. The Deputy would not get what was important and valuable in the process because he did not show up to any of the marts to listen to the farmers who were sharing their views. Some of those meetings lasted for three or four hours. The engagement and feedback were phenomenal. There were many different perspectives and varying views. That was important for framing the CAP and ensuring farmers were at the centre of it.

It is ultimately the role of Government to put together the CAP strategic plan and to submit it to Europe. It is important that we put farmers at the centre of it and that is absolutely what I did. If the Deputy would like to engage through the agriculture committee, through which there were many engagements, or otherwise, I am happy to discuss the CAP in more detail and in any way he would like. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of the Government to submit the strategic plan.

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The European Commission saw the plans before the elected Members of this House. That is a scandal.

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The real and detailed engagement with the plan does not happen through a to and fro on the floor of the Dáil. It happens by getting down and engaging directly with the farming community it impacts. That is the approach we have taken and that is why I believe this CAP strategic plan is balanced and will serve farming well for the years ahead.