Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

379. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to increase suckler cow subsidies. [48041/17]

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

The Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) provides beef farmers with some €300 million of funding over the next six years. I will continue to fully support this programme throughout the lifetime of the current RDP.

Earlier this year I re-opened BDGP for beef suckler farmers who were not already participating in the scheme. This scheme (BDGP II) provides for six years of payments to farmers for completion of actions which deliver accelerated genetic improvement in the national herd and improvement of its environmental sustainability. Payment rates and actions for participants in BDGP II are the same as those in the original scheme, with the exception that the training and carbon navigator actions must be completed by 31st October 2017.

Any increase in the payment under the BDGP would require approval from the EU Commission. This would be very difficult in the context of an innovative scheme which has undergone an approval process relatively recently. Even in the event that such approval was obtained, it would be necessary to require farmers to undertake additional actions to justify any additional payment, making the scheme more complex and compliance more onerous.

The suckler sector is a vital component of Ireland's rural economy and the provision of support for the suckler sector is critically important. The range of supports as currently configured represents a balance between direct income support for the sector and rural development measures designed to improve its competitiveness and sustainability. I believe that it is entirely appropriate to maintain this balance of developmental and income supports into the future.

I should also point out there a range of other supports available to suckler farmers under the RDP, notably GLAS, ANCs and Knowledge Transfer groups.