Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the Chamber. I join others in wishing him well in his term, particularly with the potential of his taking on the Presidency of the EU Council of farm ministers, which would be a very important role as we prepare for the next CAP.

CAP has been synonymous with farming all our lives since we joined the EEC, which is now the EU. We realise the importance of, and necessity for, a strong CAP for farming and rural communities. I wish the Minister well in protecting and enhancing the funding for farmers as best we can, as well as the policies and schemes for rural Ireland.

I will join others by briefly talking about the farm succession scheme, which is a part of the programme for Government. It supports generational renewal. In my former life, I prepared a number of the old farm retirement scheme applications, which were notoriously difficult. Solicitors were advised to have nothing to do with them because they were fraught with legal permutations if things went wrong. I appeal for a simpler scheme whereby if additional information or whatever else is needed, liaison can take place with the farmer. We do not want it to be a case of simply putting in an application and if it fails, the farmer is out. The consequences for a farmer in such cases in the past were horrendous. The pressure on farm planners and, as I said, solicitors and others who were dealing with the issues was onerous. Stamp leases, folios and all sorts of different things were required and caused enormous problems. I would urge a back-and-forth approach. If there is an issue, a week or two weeks should be allowed to provide that information. We should not have a deadline and a cut-off point for the scheme.

ACRES has been mentioned. The Minister has inherited difficulties in respect of repayments. As I have said before, the one thing worse than not getting money is getting money and being required to pay it back. Unfortunately, many farmers had to pay back substantial amounts of money under ACRES, which left a sour taste. The scheme has a bad reputation because of that and the delays. I know the Minister is dealing with those issues. It is important for the success of future agri-environmental schemes that we get this sorted, that farmers get paid and have certainty, and that they know, going forward, what they will get up front. I know there were delays in the scoring mechanism and everything else but the issues around the scheme have left a certain sour taste. I wish the Minister well in sorting out those issues.

The good agricultural and environmental condition, GAEC, standard is a part of the CAP strategic plan. We have legal obligations to introduce a GAEC 2 for the protection of wetlands and peatlands. It is a mandatory condition associated with the basic income support for farmers. There were two deferrals before 1 January this year and there can be no further extensions. The standards must be in place before the basic income support for sustainability, BISS, opens, which is now. The Minister is on record as stating that the new standard is expected to have minimal impact on farmers' day-to-day operations, which I welcome. I thank the Minister for meeting the farm groups in advance of this and in recent weeks. He met members of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association, INHFA, on a number of occasions on this matter. The association would agree with some of the clarifications provided by the Minister. However, it has a concern about the combining, if you like, of peatlands and mineral soils in the same land parcel identification system, LPIS. If it is over 50% peatland, the whole parcel is viewed or treated as peatland. Will the Minister provide some clarity in that regard? The INHFA feels this is overreach by the Department and will include approximately 100,000 acres of such land, affecting 35,000 farmers. Will the Minister provide clarity? If a parcel of land with both peat and carbon has more than 50% peatland, what impact does that have on carbon soils? Can we split out, if you like, the peat and carbon? Is that possible? Is it advisable? Is it necessary? I ask this because I think it is an issue causing some concern in communities.