Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran. It is appropriate that he should be here in succession to his senior ministerial colleague, Deputy Smith. I compliment them on ensuring the interests of rural communities are continually kept high on the agenda. In a sense, that is the essence of this entire debate. Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy means many things to different people. I agree with previous speakers who stated that, from an Irish perspective, the main aspect of CAP reform related to the protection of rural communities in order that they might survive and meet the challenges that lay ahead.

The CAP accounts for approximately 50% of the European Union's budget and covers a wide range of expenditure areas which are divided between pillars l and ll. Since the CAP reforms of the mid-1990s which were initiated by the then Commissioner, Mr. Ray MacSharry - another man who came from a rural background - there has been a shift towards direct support in the form of premium payments. The current single farm payment comes under pillar l and replaces the individual payment schemes.

The discussions under way will lead up to 2013. Ireland's vital national interests will be debated during that period. Whatever shape it takes, the reform of the CAP will mean the country will be obliged to adopt a bottom-line approach because said reform cannot be seen to endanger in any way farm incomes or rural communities.

In the interests of obtaining an indication of the importance of payments under the CAP, I sought some statistics in respect of those in receipt of them. Ireland and Greece are among the major recipients of CAP funds. This is despite the fact that in 2006 agriculture accounted for just 3.1% of GDP in Greece and 0.9% in Ireland. There is a view that much of the CAP money goes to the biggest farmers, namely, large agribusinesses and hereditary landowners. It has been calculated that 74% of the funds goes to just 20% of EU farmers, while at the other end of the scale, 70% of farmers share just 8% of the funds. The Commission states this is heavily influenced by the funding for farms in the new member states. From the perspective of the national interest, this aspect is going to present a challenge for the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the negotiations that are due to take place.

The most recent reform of the CAP occurred when agreement was reached in November 2008 on the introduction of the health check, which incorporated a scheduled review and adjustment of the mechanisms of the CAP which were intended to improve, reinforce and build on previous CAP reforms and include further decoupling of direct farm payments from production in sectors such as arable crops and the phasing out of milk quotas by 2015. The health check also proposed reducing red tape for farmers through simplification of direct farm payments and the requirements of cross-compliance.

The issue of regulation continually arises when discussions with regard to the European Union take place. Members who have had dealings with those who have been obliged to complete the reams of paperwork and traverse various hurdles in order to obtain a small amount of money will be familiar with over-regulation. There is a view abroad that Ireland is a good member of the Union because it seems to adopt the various directives and regulations before many other countries. Perhaps it might be more accurate to state that as well as adopting them, we go the extra mile in implementing them.

For many years successive Governments fought against implementing a particular European directive. However, in January the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government signed an order in respect of the dispersal of surface water in one-off housing. In that context, some 98% of land in County Leitrim is marginal in nature. In other words, very little grows on it. The county is also unique in that under the initial layer of topsoil there is what is termed in common parlance as "Leitrim daub", a substance otherwise known as mud, and its presence means there is very little downward percolation. As a result of the introduction in January of the order to which I refer, the refusal rate of the planning department of Leitrim County Council in respect of one-off rural housing has risen to between 80% and 85%. In a county that is more rural than urban the continued implementation along current lines of this code of conduct, the guidelines for which were drawn up by the EPA and now are being implemented by local authorities across the country, could sound the death knell for rural communities. The issue is wrapped up in this debate on the CAP and I wished to mention it in passing.

People in Ireland take a cross-party approach to this issue and references have been made to wearing the green jersey by all Members of the European Parliament, successive Ministers for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Opposition spokespersons on agriculture. Whenever interests vital to the country's economy arise, there is no dissent and a unified approach is taken, particularly in respect of anything that tinkerers or tampers with the Common Agricultural Policy. However, from a cursory glance at the websites that have been set up to explain and discuss the CAP reforms one will find that there is a growing and highly significant lobby that is gathering a head of steam to challenge the continuation of direct farm payments and persuade the powers that be in the European Union and individual member states to stop or redirect them. One aspect of this trend is that the Lisbon treaty gives increased powers to the European Parliament in the area of co-decision, specifically in the area of agriculture. Heretofore, the powerful Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament was able to deflect much of the criticism and efforts made to undermine the CAP during the years. However, on foot of these changes, the European Parliament will have a greatly enhanced role. My concern is that a successful assault on the CAP up to 2013, given our relatively small numerical representation in the European Parliament, coupled with the shift eastwards to the member states that joined the European Union in 2004, could have a detrimental and adverse effect on the payments coming directly into rural communities in Ireland.

Moreover, one does not need to go as far as mainland Europe to find opponents of the CAP. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the United Kingdom makes the point with regard to the health check:

We were ... disappointed that the Health Check was unable to go further in reforming the CAP, and we are concerned about the market distortions created by the increased flexibility in the use of 'national envelopes' which allow Member States to reintroduce production-coupled payments to support specific farming sectors.

This provides an indication of where the United Kingdom stands on the CAP. The Department goes on to state:

In line with our Vision, the Common Agricultural Policy needs far-reaching reform, including the phasing out of spending on Pillar 1, with payments under a reshaped Pillar 2 of the CAP focusing on delivering environmental benefits that the market wouldn't otherwise deliver.

Pillar 1 includes direct income support, rewarding farmers' historic support entitlements, single farm payments and single area payments, while Pillar 2 pertains to the policy's environmental aspects. In this regard, I note the Government has gone a long way towards ensuring the payment of a minimum income to farm families who, in return, will improve the environment in which they operate.

I refer to comments made by the new Romanian Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Ciolos, in a recent exchange between the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and his cabinet. While on the face of it, he appears to be supporting much of what Members have been advocating in respect of the preservation of rural communities and the enhancement of the environment, I detected in the subtext that he was not as engaged in such support as were some of his predecessors such as former Commissioners Fischler and MacSharry.

A great challenge lies ahead for Ireland. There is momentum sweeping across Europe on the consumer side, aided by significant governments such as that of the United Kingdom, to dismantle the CAP that would have a detrimental effect on Irish farm families. I compliment the IFA on continuing to highlight the issue and wish its new president, Mr. John Bryant, every success. He has a loose connection with my home town of Drumshanbo in that his late uncle, Mr. Dick Bryant, was a bank official there. I have found that Mr. Bryant has the interests of small farmers in Ireland as much at heart as those of the larger farmers in the IFA.