Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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32. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to implement full convergence of the basic payment scheme immediately or on a gradual basis over the lifetime of the next CAP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19996/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The draft CAP Post-2020 regulations, involve significant changes, including the end of the Basic Payment Scheme and the start of the Basic Income Support Scheme (BISS). Under the proposed BISS, there is a mandatory requirement for Member States to ensure that, by 2026, all payment values reach a minimum convergence level of 75% for all payment entitlements.   Member States will also be required to set a maximum value of individual payment entitlements.  It is proposed that the funding mechanism will be similar to the current system where payment entitlements with values above the average are reduced to fund the convergence.

This proposal builds on the current convergence path of the 2015-2020 CAP Regulations, under which all entitlements must reach a minimum value of 60% of the national average by 2019.  I am open to some further convergence in payments.

Since the launch of the draft CAP Post-2020 regulations by Commissioner Hogan in June 2018, officials from my Department have been engaging with European colleagues and analysing the effects of all of the proposed changes, including changes to convergence.  This close level of engagement and detailed analysis of the impact of the proposals on farmers in Ireland will continue until the Regulations are fully developed. The outcome of these continued discussions and the results of these analyses will inform the decision-making process on the implementation of CAP Post-2020 in Ireland.