Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When I examined the issue of greening ? I am sure the Minister is even more familiar with it than I ? I noted that farming organisations worry that the European Commission?s plans to make the CAP more environmentally friendly could leave producers drowning in paperwork. The Minister referred to the matter. For example, COPA, which represents European farmers and farm co-operatives says the Commission?s greening proposals would introduce new layers of reporting while threatening farm income by requiring, for example, that 30% of direct payments be linked to greening performance. That is a more global European view whereas we are somewhat unique in this regard. The Minister explained that, by definition, in many cases this country would be seen to be green anyway in terms of the second pillar.

To give the context in which all of this is happening; Teagasc documents that without CAP payments Irish agriculture would have made a loss of approximately ¤600 million in 2009 and direct payments amounted to approximately ¤1.8 billion. A poker game is going on. Of course the Minister must try to achieve a balance. I wish him well in that regard. Again, it seems that in particular in the context of the flat payment the IFA seems to be opposed to it, while Friends of the Irish Environment, to which I referred, called the proposed flattening charge a salvation for the farmers on disadvantaged lands in rural areas, which amounts to 70% of the country?s farmland.

I echo what my colleague, Senator Ó Domhnaill said. The Minister acknowledged that there are those who are in disadvantaged areas but some among them are even more severely disadvantaged. Putting it at its most blunt, the context in which the payments are made will be a transforming boost to rural economies with the payments going directly to small farmers and therefore into local economies supporting towns and villages, schools, post offices and local shops. Therefore, I suggest to the Minister that it is not just about productive farming; it is also about the impact on the rural economy. The balance the Minister must try to achieve is on the one hand to protect and develop the more productive elements of agriculture but at the same time to assist the many farming families, which through no fault of their own, in particular in my part of the country in Connacht and Ulster, rely on farm payments. In turn that will ensure the survival of local economies. They keep the post office and small shop open. The challenge for the Minister in fighting the case in Europe is that perhaps they do not always fully understand the nature of the Irish rural economy and the importance of direct payments. I wish the Minister well.