Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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165. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the European Commission’s proposal to increase the state aid threshold for farmers to €25,000 per producer following the Commission's public consultation process on this matter; the latest discussions and timeline for agreement at European Council; and his proposal for the national threshold limit. [39353/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The CAP de minimisregulation covers the provision of small non-market distorting aid that can be paid to individuals without requiring notification to the Commission or the seeking of a block exemption.

Discussions on the Commission's proposals as part of its review of the agriculture de minimis regulations took place earlier in 2018 and a final decision is awaited.As part of its Impact assessment, the Commission undertook an economic analysis of the potential distortive effects of increased threshold ceilings. The Commission assessed a number of options as part of this exercise and presented different options for Member States to consider. Having considered the options, which included proposed sectorial caps and additional governance structure for higher levels of de minimus aid, I considered that an option of an increased threshold of €20,000 combined with an increased national cap of 1.25 to be most appropriate for Ireland.

It is the intention of the Commission to introduce the revised regulation by the end of 2018.