Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reason my party has tabled an amendment on this occasion is not to divide the House on the issue of the Common Agricultural Policy but to highlight some of the concerns which face farmers, in particular those on small family farms throughout the country, as the negotiations around the CAP are unveiled. The Minister will represent this country in those negotiations in Europe and will have our full support in that regard. It is not our intention to divide the House but we intend to raise some of the concerns which, as the Minister knows, face farms and farmers throughout the country.

Irrespective of what has been said, the template and blueprint to drive agriculture in Ireland was published in 2009 under the stewardship of the former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, when a 20-person committee under the stewardship of Dr. Brady was established. That report, the Food Harvest 2020 template, was adopted in this programme for Government and will drive the future of Irish agriculture between now and 2020. The report seeks to increase the value of primary output in the agrifood, fisheries and forestry sector by ¤1.5 billion, which would represent a 33% increase when compared with average figures for the period 2007-09.

Without going into the detail of the Food Harvest 2020 report, as we only have few minutes, I wish to outline some of the concerns in regard to the current CAP negotiations that are taking place. We would obviously hope the CAP would remain broadly around the figure of ¤1.25 billion per annum for the Irish national envelope over those years. A debate is taking place in Europe, with thousands of amendments tabled in the European Parliament. The Parliament has not agreed the multi-annual financial framework for 2014-20 and we need to see a commitment in regard to CAP expenditure for 2013 levels, which was ¤371 billion. The Parliament must agree on the financial measures and this will be critically important for the future of the industry in Ireland. We fully support the Minister in any negotiations he is undertaking in conjunction with our MEPs. Under the new arrangements, MEPs have a co-sharing of power whereby MEPs in the Council of Ministers have an influential role in regard to the future of the CAP negotiations.

The 30% greening pillar is a cause of concern. My party is particularly concerned that this would add further bureaucracy and red, or green, tape to Irish agriculture, especially because of the costs associated with meeting the greening measures, which are anticipated to be in the region of ¤15 per hectare. That would place an additional burden on Irish agriculture at a time when many farmers are struggling. Take, for example, tillage farmers and the difficulties they have experienced this year, coupled with livestock farmers, whether in sheep, beef or dairy, when many animals were kept in during the summer months due to the difficult weather conditions the farming sector experienced. That situation will push up feed costs and increase scarcity of feed. Many farmers have lost crops. Measures must be built in to ensure these farmers are supported both prior to and post 2013.

Time is scarce and I do not wish merely to read a script but want to touch on a number of issues. I welcomed the announcement regarding AEOS and issued a statement to that effect last week. However, we were all hoping it would have been at the levels approved by the previous Government - ¤5,000 instead of ¤4,000 and applying to 10,000 farmers instead of 8,000. I appreciate we are in a difficult economic climate at present but notwithstanding that we have to support smaller farmers, particularly those who are now struggling to survive. The alternative for many of those farmers is to go on the farm assist scheme or on social welfare. I know thousands of small farmers along the west coast of Ireland who are contemplating leaving the industry because they just cannot afford to meet the costs associated with staying in the sector. Those farmers must be supported in the new CAP----