Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 September 2021
682. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Minister for Finance or a representative of their Department advocated to his Department that a cap be placed on suckler numbers for participants in a proposed agricultural scheme. [44714/21]
View answerThe development of the CAP Strategic Plan is well under way.
A five-week public consultation on the draft interventions concluded on Friday 3rd September. Over 1,000 submissions have been made during the public consultation process. The townhall webinars were also well attended with in excess of 300 attending on each of the three nights. These submissions are under consideration and will be taken on board in the development of the plan.
Discussions with key stakeholders will continue through bilateral engagements, and through the CAP Consultative Committee, where all key stakeholders are represented. A statutory consultation on draft environmental report for the CAP Strategic Plan will be held in November with the final plan due for submission in December in advance of the 1st January 2022 deadline.
The plan will then be subject to an approval process with the Commission over a six or eight month period.
All elements of the plan will be subject to review and scrutiny by the EU Commission in line with the relevant regulatory framework around the three general objectives of economic, environmental and social sustainability. The CAP Strategic Plan will commence on 1st January 2023.
As discussed with the members of the CAP consultative committee as well as during the public consultation process, with respect to the proposed Suckler Carbon Efficiency Scheme, the rationale for the proposed scheme was to ensure that we did not see an overall increase in emissions from participants. It's critical to note that the scheme is a proposal with nothing yet defined. At all stages farmers and their organisations will be informed.
