Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 March 2012
11 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has considered capping the single farm payment at €100,000; if he considered bringing single farm payment in line with the average industrial wage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14645/12]
View answerThe EU Commission has proposed to cap single farm payments at €300,000, net of the greening component and salary costs and this is the proposal that I am giving consideration to currently in the CAP reform negotiations.
Of the 123,159 farmers in receipt of Single Farm Payment in 2010, some 238 or 0.2% received payments in excess of €100,000. In those circumstances, I do not believe that a cap of this nature would be particularly relevant for Irish farmers.
As to bringing the payment into line with the average industrial wage, I am not convinced that this would be appropriate. The centralised recording and measurement of income that would be required in respect of all farmers and their employees to do this would add substantial complications to the operation of the scheme both for farmers and administrators and would run counter to my stated objective to simplify the Single Farm Payment as much as possible.
