Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) will deliver some €9.8 billion to our farm families over the next five years to support them to continue to produce world-class, safe and sustainable food as well as supporting them in their important work of meeting our climate ambitions. This includes EU CAP funding for Ireland of €7.53 billion over the five-year period from 2023 to 2027. This EU funding is split between Pillar I Direct Payments and Sectoral Interventions (€5.97 billion) and Pillar II Rural Development Interventions (€1.56 billion). The allocation from the national exchequer to co-fund the Rural Development element of the CSP amounts to €2.30 billion bringing the total to €3.86 billion in respect of the Rural Development component of the Plan. The increased national co-funding of €2.30 billion is a substantial increase on the existing rural development programme, and reflects an increase in the co-financing percentage from 43% to 60% over the previous programme.

All funding under Pillar 1 went directly to farmers. Under Pillar 2, approximately €8 million was paid to the ACRES Co-operation Project teams. This accounted for 0.5% of the total payments of €1.5bn under both Pillars paid out in 2023. These teams are facilitating farmers to receive higher payments through a local approach to addressing biodiversity, climate and water objectives in their area. All other payments were made to farmers.

Table 1: CSP Expenditure by Intervention, 2023