Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

28. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has carried out an analysis or assessment of the impact upon the CAP basic payment scheme for Irish farmers due to Brexit and the loss of the UK contribution to the EU budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37565/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In the course of its analysis to date, my Department has identified a number of medium-to-long term issues that the UK decision to leave the EU gives rise to. Among these is the question of how the EU budget will be affected by the loss of the UK contribution.

It is estimated that the loss to the EU budget will be of the order of between 5% and 10%. This could have implications for future spending decisions in what is already a very tight budgetary framework. Given that the CAP accounts for some 37% of the EU budget, we could expect additional pressure for further contraction in CAP funding in the years ahead, with potential knock-on effects on both basic payment scheme and rural development expenditure. However, no impact is foreseen in respect of the CAP in the current multiannual financial framework until 2020.

The debate is likely to be framed by the question of whether the contributions of the 27 remaining Member States to the budget in the future would have to be increased in order to ensure that the level of expenditure across all headings is maintained, or whether expenditure would have to be reduced. The balance to be struck is likely to be the subject of difficult and protracted negotiations, which will also be linked to the related issue of the negotiations on the post-2020 EU budget, in respect of which a Commission proposal is expected in 2018.

It is still too early to speculate on the likely outcome, and we must also bear in mind that much will depend on the progress of the exit negotiations between the EU and the UK, which may not commence for some time yet.

I will of course continue to ensure that agriculture’s voice is a strong one and is fully taken into account during these negotiations, based on the principle that the CAP makes an important contribution to the achievement of EU priorities in the area of jobs and growth, and should continue to attract the commensurate funding to ensure that this is maintained.