Written answers

Thursday, 15 July 2021

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Common Agricultural Policy

Photo of Rose Conway-WalshRose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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35. 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 farms and farms on marginalised and or designated lands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38561/21]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The aim of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to all support farmers across the community to help them produce safe, nutritious and quality foods. The redistributive mechanisms currently in place under CAP Pillar I seek 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 new CAP from 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 continue 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. This 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). 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. Delivering flexibility was one of my key objectives from the outset and I am happy to have achieved this.

While agreement has been reached, further work remains on certain technical details of the proposed reforms. 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.

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