Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of Seanad Éireann, I welcome Mr. Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. Commissioner Hogan has been invited by the Seanad to address the House as a distinguished person. Before his appointment in 2014 as a member of the European Commission, Mr. Hogan had a long and distinguished career in Irish politics. He served on Kilkenny County Council, becoming the country's youngest council chairman in 1985. Commissioner Hogan was elected to this House in 1987 and was first elected to the Dáil in 1989. He has served as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works and as Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Commissioner Hogan took up his post in Brussels with EU experience already under his belt. He had chaired the European People's Party group of environment Ministers from 2012 to 2014 and presided over the Council of EU Environment Ministers during the Irish Presidency in 2013. In addition to his many years of political experience, the Commissioner brings to the Agriculture and Rural Development portfolio practical experience of agriculture, having managed his family's farm for a number of years in his early twenties.

Commissioner Hogan took office in Brussels after a very successful hearing before the European Parliament's agriculture committee. The first item in his in-tray was the need to deal with the fallout from the Russian ban on EU agricultural products. The Commissioner extended aid to affected sectors while, at the same time, preventing cuts to farmers' direct payments by overturning the activation of the crisis reserve. This ensured farmers did not have to pay the price for an international political conflict that they had not caused. In order to access new markets for products affected by the ban, Commissioner Hogan announced a big increase in the EU promotion budget from €60 million to €200 million.

The Commissioner has placed simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, at the top of his political agenda in his first year in office. He has already simplified the guidelines for direct payments and extended the deadline for applications by a month, to allow farmers and administrations more time to adjust to the new system. The Commissioner intends to announce further simplification measures in the coming months. Commissioner Hogan has been active in brokering agreement in Council on the organics reform, a €22 billion sector which is growing rapidly at a rate of 9% per annum. He has also brought forward changes to the school schemes which will benefit some of the most deprived students.

It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Commissioner Hogan's interactive way of working that he has made it his business to seek out the views of stakeholders and parliamentarians on the ground in member states. Knowing the importance of keeping in touch with the constituencies, in just over seven months in the job, he has already visited 12 member states and ten national and regional parliaments to discuss with national politicians the issues affecting the agrifood sector in their areas. The Commissioner's visit to the Seanad and, later today, to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is tangible evidence of his active engagement.

In addition to his immediate challenges in the agriculture and rural development portfolio, Commissioner Hogan has joined a Commission which has many other significant challenges to grapple with. The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, youth unemployment, the difficult situation in Greece, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, are just some of the issues which face Commissioner Hogan and his colleagues. I have no doubt Commissioner Hogan has the insight, energy and commitment to play an important part in tackling all of the issues that face the Commission. On behalf of Seanad Éireann, I wish you well, Commissioner, in your efforts. Commissioner, I am delighted to welcome you back to the House in which you made your maiden speech on the national stage. You follow a number of your illustrious predecessors who, as EU Commissioners, also addressed the Seanad, among them Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, David Byrne, Jacques Santer and Neil Kinnock. It is a privilege for me to invite you to address the House. I also welcome your staff, Tom Tynan, Dermot Ryan, Olof Gill - a Mayo man - and Barbara Nolan, who heads up the European office here in Dublin.