Common Agricultural Policy

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 July 2021

Tuesday, 6 July 2021

Questions (564)

Michael Fitzmaurice

Question:

564. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the Assistant Secretary of his Department (details supplied) indicated at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and the Marine on 27 May 2021 that a request by an organisation to become a member of the CAP Post-2020 Consultative Committee was still being considered, despite the Minister of State in his Department stating in a letter on 24 May 2021 that there was no need to broaden membership of the committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35812/21]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I would like to assure the Deputy that both my colleague Minister of State Pippa Hackett and I have given careful consideration to the request for participation in the CAP Consultative Committee by the organisation named. We met the organisation bilaterally just this week at which this issue was discussed. As the Deputy is aware, the EU negotiations on the Common Agriculture Policy concluded recently. Each Member State is now finalising its proposed CAP Strategic Plan and must lodge this with the European Commission no later than 1st January 2022.

Our CAP Consultative Committee has been meeting for over two years now and the request from the body named was only recently received. We are of course open to bilateral direct engagement and the Department has offered direct engagement on this matter including presentations on latest developments. We have also invited the organisation named to submit their proposals on how tree-planting can play a larger role in our CAP schemes and we look forward to constructive discussions with them on this.