Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 44: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Fisheries and Food his plan to ensure that Ireland secures the same proportion of the pillar 2 rural development fund in the Common Agricultural Policy post 2013. [17628/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The size of the CAP budget and how it will be divided between pillar 1 and 2 will ultimately be a matter for decision by EU Finance Ministers and Heads of State and Government in the context of the overall EU multiannual financial framework for the coming years. First proposals on this are expected from the EU Commission later this week. I want to see a strong and adequately financed CAP budget that, at the very least, allows the current mix of CAP policies to be maintained, both for pillar 1 and pillar 2.

Ireland's receipts from the second pillar will also depend on the extent to which there is a redistribution of CAP funds between Member States. Currently there are two schools of thought on how redistribution might be achieved ranging from the use of objective criteria to determine allocations to each Member State to applying a pragmatic approach that would rebalance current allocations and even out distribution levels.

I favour using a pragmatic approach both for pillar 1 direct payments and pillar 2 rural development funds, starting with the current distribution level and using eligible area as a comparator. On this basis, Ireland's average payments both in pillar 1 and pillar 2 are just below the EU average and I would see no justification for any negative effects on Ireland's receipts.

Using objective criteria, on the other hand, would give rise to much more uncertainty. The outcome would depend on the set of criteria selected and, although we could suggest very favourable criteria, others could equally suggest criteria very unfavourable to us, particularly for pillar 2.

It is for these reasons that I will continue to press strongly for the pragmatic approach. My overriding objective is to secure at the very least a continuation of the current level of CAP funding both for the first and second pillars.