Common Agricultural Policy

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 May 2010

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Questions (45)

Damien English

Question:

57 Deputy Damien English asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the cost of administering the Common Agricultural Policy here as a percentage of the CAP funds allocated to Ireland; the way this compares with EU norms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22042/10]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Deputy Brendan Smith)

The Commission has developed a template for calculating the costs of implementing EU funded schemes under the Common Agricultural Policy for the purposes of showing comparisons between Member States. The comparison shows that the administrative costs in Ireland are significantly lower than the EU average. The latest data submitted for the purposes of the EU comparison shows that the cost to the Department in 2008 of administering EAGF funded schemes (market supports and direct payments) amounted to 2.79% of expenditure under the schemes and for the EAFRD (rural development measures) the cost of administration was to 2.61%. The details are set out in the tabular statement below. The overall EU average cost in the EU 25 Member States was 4.15% in 2007 which is the most recent data available.

2008: expenditure and administrative costs

	Expenditure	Administrative costs	Admin cost as % of expenditure
	€m	€m
EAGF	1,452	40.5	2.79%
EAFRD*	614	16.0	2.61%

*EU and national funding.