Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and compliment him on his negotiations in achieving the figure of a minimum of 60% of the national or regional average per hectare. That is part of the social objective of keeping people in rural Ireland and the various industries that stem from it. Some €11 billion will come to this country.

Is it time to plan outside this figure of €11 billion? We hear about world shortages of food, the figure of 9 billion people, developments in New Zealand, the development of the Chinese market and the substantial progress we have made in satisfying markets, as the export figures show. However, at what point does the €11 billion become the target, rather than customers? Do Irish farmers spend too much time chasing subsidies and too little time facing customers? Is there a contrast in that regard? I would like to see the commercialisation of Irish agriculture proceed apace based on the New Zealand model. My fear is that the subsidies are capitalised in higher land prices which, in turn, become an obstacle to young people getting involved in agriculture. When the New Zealanders pulled out their subsidies, land prices fell. We have high land prices and relatively low output per acre; perhaps, therefore, the relentless pursuit of subsidies accounts for that problem.

I disagree with my friend and colleague, Senator Rónán Mullen, on the Canadian agreement. Free trade is the way to go. We might learn things from Canada, perhaps not so much in agriculture but certainly in respect of banking and the public finances, in respect of which it has done rather better than us in recent decades. Much of Canada is under snow for three or four months of the year, yet we still say we are not competitive with Canada, that it pulled a fast one on the Minister and his colleagues in doing the deal and that this is a very bad model for the forthcoming deal on free trade between the United States and the European Union, which I also support. Either we are really good at this and can represent companies such as the Kerry Group and the Greencore Group or we are not. Saying we are good but that we want more subsidies, particularly in straitened circumstances for most Exchequers, including in Europe, is almost a schizophrenic policy. As we are good, we should not be afraid of the Canadians, the Americans or anybody else. We have set ourselves the target of being a leading world food producer; therefore, let us proceed in that way.

There is a report from an all-party UK committee on European reform which states scrapping the CAP and other measures to protect European agriculture could add 1.1% to European GDP. Part of the euro-scepticism on the neighbouring island is that there are too many subsidies and too little food production taking place. It is an issue we must confront. Will it ever end? Will there be an agriculture industry in Europe which can supply a rapidly growing demand for food competitively with the Americans, the Canadian and the New Zealanders, or will we always be on the subsidy trail?

There is also a fair amount of scepticism in many rural areas about the non-farming part. Many think I would be critical of public sector approaches, but the criticisms I have of some of the rural development and Leader programmes are that there is mainly bureaucracy and very little output. We must face up to this in a period of difficulty in the public finances. It raises the general question of whether this is ultimately for the good of Irish agriculture. We hopped on the subsidy train when we joined the European Union, but when do we become fully commercial producers? Do the subsidies delay this happening? My colleague, Professor Alan Matthews, in Trinity College Dublin is concerned that the subsidy has become more important than the market based income. Farmers are good in market conditions, as one will see if one visits a cattle market, but have we made subsidies, instead of market based activities, the cause célèbre? Any action of the Minister - I appreciate his goals in this regard - should be to turn farmers more towards serving customers and meeting food needs, rather than repeatedly demonstrating outside Leinster House for more subsidies. They are either commercial or they are not. We can look after the non-commercial farmers with the €11 billion, but some of the others must face up to the fact that it is a world of free trade. If they are as good as they maintain they are, they have nothing to fear. I wish them well in that regard.