Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and the opportunity to speak on sustainable agriculture and the dairy price outlook. If one looks up the word "sustainable" in the thesaurus it comes up as green, continual and viable. The most important word is "viable" as a word for sustainable. That is the theme on which I wish to speak because the viability of farming in what is a new outlook in terms of the schemes includes the new CAP agreement. We cannot reach a point where suddenly environmental issues mean that farms are no longer viable. It is important that the Minister continues to support agriculture especially in Ireland where we have a unique situation of the family farm. We are not into factory farms, such as in parts of the UK, the US and parts of Europe, and I do not think we should ever reach that point. We all know how valuable is the family farm. It keeps people in rural Ireland and it keeps people spending money there and in the local shop. It keeps people supporting the local post office and the local village. That is why it is important that any sustainable measures put in place must ensure the farm continues to be viable.

One of the most important points in terms of sustainable agriculture was the agreement reached in October with the help of the Minister when the Taoiseach succeeded in persuading his colleagues in the European Council to adopt sustainable intensification as EU policy on agriculture and climate change. This is important because we have a grass-based system and our greenhouse gas emissions were going to cause us major problems. The Minister has to work closely with the farm organisations and Teagasc to ensure decisions made in respect of the nitrates directive do not adversely affect the viability of farms. Another positive development in this and the other House in recent years was the adoption of the EU groundwater directive which provided for septic tank registration. It is important that all septic tanks are registered to ensure our groundwater is not affected. For example, in my own County Kilkenny, Glanbia, one of the major co-operatives in the country, received a grant of €13 million from Kilkenny County Council and the IDA due to the fact that it had a source of clean water. The Belview water supply scheme in south Kilkenny will come into production next year for liquid milk.

The word "viable" relates to moneys. The Minister mentioned the downward pressure on milk prices this year and that we may be facing a bill of more than €100 million. I raised the issue at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in regard to the super levy. This is an issue we have to look at. I appreciate that the Minister is in negotiations with the EU and the Commission and, hopefully, we can get a phased payment on this. This is important given the downward milk prices because cash flow will be a major problem for farmers.

In his contribution the Minister mentioned Pillar 1 and the new changes being introduced, including a compulsory green direct payment which will account for approximately 30% of a farmer's total. The 30% greening requirements are important for the protection of the environment. In order to qualify, approximately 10,000 applicants for the new basic payment scheme will have to make changes to comply with the new greening requirements. It is important they are not tied up in red tape and that we do not have to come here for a debate when the Minister and Senators and Deputies have been lobbied because some "i" was not dotted. We must ensure these people receive the maximum payments under the scheme.

The GLAS scheme is welcome because farming has been under pressure, especially the beef sector, sucklers and sheep, as 50,000 farmers-----