On sustainable farming and initiatives such as this, we need to move away from the metric of income forgone and costs incurred. You get your costs but you have to be rewarded for the initiative you are taking. There is a gain on the part of nature, society and sustainable farming. We can and will, no doubt, retain our status and standing. We are conscious that the move is to sustainability. Investment funds and capital programmes are all geared towards models that are sustainable. For us to retain our status and enhance it, we have to move in that direction. However, we cannot move ahead of the farming community, the farming sector or those who produce the quality of food we have. We have to bring them with us and invest in them. We have to put that investment first, not on a costs incurred metric but on the basis of costs incurred plus a reward mechanism, to show we are capable of acknowledging the investment they are making. They need to be rewarded for it because the gain is many generations down the road.
]]>I want to use this opportunity to quell some of the scaremongering that still exists by affording the opportunity to the Ministers with responsibility in this area - which crosses two Departments - to clarify matters and state categorically to this House, to me and, by association, to those we represent, the truth of the matter, so people can clearly understand where we are at and where we are going.
Sometime after the first publication of the law, Teagasc rectified its initial correct calculation, confirming the potential of State lands, such as Bord na Móna and Coillte, to meet the State's obligations. Any scheme to promote, encourage or fund nature restoration will be voluntary. Any farm that opts not to participate will not have its single farm payment affected in any way. The funding that is provided towards such a scheme, which will be debated and agreed over the next two years after consultation, includes funding from Ireland's climate and nature fund, as per the budget of last October and from European funds that will be provided also. That funding will be separate and distinct from the CAP funding. Those are my takings from what was passed this week. Those are my takings from the consultation I have had with the Ministers for agriculture, as well as the Minister of State in the Department of housing, Deputy Noonan. They clarified those points to me, as have MEPs. I need it to be stated categorically in this House that that is the fact. Much scaremongering has been done by Members outside of this House. It suits them to give the impression that this is damaging, but it is not damaging at all. I will now allow the Minister of State to have that opportunity.
]]>We appreciate and thank the Department's staff for the manner in which they responded to the Government's policies to make assistance available and the manner in which they administered the business supports provided during the Covid pandemic and again during the cost-of-living-crisis. They are asked to administer something and that is all they can do. The detail around the effectiveness or otherwise of those supports is for the committee to consider and only when we have that information can we address those issues. I extend our thanks and appreciation to the witnesses and their staff.
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