Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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479. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures he plans to include in the CAP Strategic Plan in order to redistribute funding to smaller and poorer family farms. [38621/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The aim of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to support farmers across the community. The redistributive mechanisms currently in place under CAP Pillar I seeks to create a more even payment landscape and target funds where they are needed most. These redistributive mechanisms are a core EU policy and are set to continue into the CAP 2023. The development of Ireland's CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) involves a number of stages, including SWOT analysis, needs assessment, intervention design, financial allocations, target setting and governance systems. The draft CSP will also be subject to an ex-ante evaluation, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment including a public consultation on the draft CSP and draft Environmental Report.

I have continued to engage extensively with stakeholders on the future of CAP. Consultations on the development of the CSP will continue via the CAP Consultative Committee, which comprises representatives of the main stakeholders including farm bodies, NGOs, industry representatives and academia. The Committee has met on 18 occasions and further meetings are planned.

The Presidency Compromise package include a suite of measures which will enable us to ensure the fair implementation of redistribution measures such as capping, convergence and Complementary Redistribution of Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS). I believe the agreement strikes the right balance between ensuring a fair distribution of payments between farmers and achieving a higher level of environmental and climate ambition. It also provides Member States with the flexibility required to implement the CAP in a way that best suits their national circumstances. This flexibility was one of my key objectives from the outset.

While agreement has been reached, further work remains on certain technical details of the proposed reform. I expect to shortly bring a memo to government and launch a public consultation on the draft interventions proposed for the CAP Strategic Plan. I will also continue to engage with stakeholders as we develop our CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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480. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will ensure that supports to the group (details supplied) are included in the next CAP. [38622/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government ‘Our Shared Future’ contains a commitment to seek to resolve, under the next CAP, the issue of support for the category of farmers known as Forgotten Farmers. The recently agreed proposals for the new CAP include provision for supports for young farmers and new entrants to farming and the Department is examining the issue of forgotten farmers with that timeline in mind.

The outline of any schemes supported under the next CAP and details of the Terms and Conditions for eligibility under such schemes, or for supports available, will be set out once the relevant EU Regulations are agreed and finalised.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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481. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he plans to continue the process of convergence in 2022. [38623/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Regulation regarding the transition period enables Member States to continue convergence during the transition period, if they so wish. Following my appointment as Minister, I examined with Department officials the possibility of continuing convergence in 2021. The decision had previously been made to rest convergence during the transitional period (2021-22) and given the enormous logistical and operational requirements in the process, the timeframe was not available to consider making changes for 2021. It is clear this would constitute an enormous challenge to restart this in 2022 given the need to develop our CAP Strategic Plan and the payment systems that will be required to ensure we meet our payment targets.

In addition, this transitional period continues to provide some time for meaningful consultation with farmers and their representative bodies on this important issue, along with some much-needed stability in Direct Payments through the transitional period. It is my intention to continue to consult with farm organisations for the second transition year of 2022 as well as for the CAP programme to further consider how to continue the convergence process. This engagement will take place over the coming months in order to make a timely decision for the 2022 period and beyond.

It is now clear that the CAP regulations commencing in 2023 will continue with the convergence process to far beyond the original proposal, and I will be aiming to obtaining the best outcome for Irish farmers from the options available.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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482. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the percentage of CAP pillar 1 payments he plans to allocate to young farmers in the next CAP. [38624/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Supporting young farmers, and generational renewal more generally, continues to be a priority for me and for the Department.

As the Deputy will be aware, at the June Agri-Fish Council, Agriculture Ministers accepted the provisional deal agreed between the Council Presidency and the European Parliament on 25th June.

Young farmers will continue to be supported under the next CAP. There is provision for an amount equal to at least 3% of total direct payments funding to be allocated to young farmers.

While political agreement has been reached, further work remains on certain technical details of the proposed reform. Legal texts will now be prepared by the Commission and will be presented to Member States and the European Parliament in due course for formal agreement.

There is a substantial amount of work to be carried out over the coming months to finalise Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027. The Department and I will consult extensively with farm families and stakeholders as part of this process. It is also my intention to write to the Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and the Marine to formally seek its views.

I will take the outcome of the consultation process and the views of the Oireachtas Committee into consideration before seeking the approval of Government and submitting Ireland's CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 to the Commission by the deadline of 1st January 2022.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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483. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he plans to rollover all CAP pillar 2 spending in 2022. [38625/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The 10^thamendment to the Rural Development Programme was approved by the European Commission on 19th May 2021. It provides for the possibility of extending some schemes in 2022. I will be considering this matter over the coming months, and particularly in the context of the availability of national exchequer funding as we work through the annual budgetary process.