Vol. 931 No. 1
1. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason only half of the 2016 RDP budget has been spent in the year to 14 November 2016; when outstanding payments will issue to farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37784/16]
My question is to ask the Minister the reason only half of the rural development programme budget for 2016 had been spent by 14 November and when standing payments will be issued to farmers.
The timing of payments under rural development programme, RDP, schemes is governed by EU regulation and while the norm is that payments issue between 1 December and 30 June of the following year for area based schemes, an advance of up to 75% can be made before 1 December with the balance issuing after all inspections have been initiated. For 2015 and 2016, the Commission moved from a 75% advance and allowed member states to pay up to 85%. To comply with regulatory and audit requirements, a full suite of checks must be carried out on all payment claims and this work cannot commence until after 15 May, the closing date for submission of the basic payment scheme application.
For many of the rural development programme schemes, 2016 is the first full year of payment and 2016 payments for a number of the schemes are scheduled to issue in December. The current position for each of the schemes in the RDP in respect of 2016 payments is as follows. For the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme, payments are made annually to some 96,000 farmers. For 2016, the allocation is €202 million, and we are on schedule to pay this full allocation by year end. In 2015, some €207 million was paid under the scheme.
Processing of the ANC scheme payments commenced on schedule during the third week in September with almost 65,000 applicants being paid a total of €140.9 million. To date, over 87,000 applicants have been paid a total of €188 million. In addition, over €10 million has been paid this year in respect of the 2015 scheme year.
As is normal at this stage of the year, a number of applicants have not yet fulfilled the scheme eligibility requirements regarding stocking density but will do so, it is to be hoped, before the end of the year. Payments under the beef data and genomics programme are calculated on the basis of the number of calved cows in 2014 and the eligible hectares of forage land declared on the 2014 single payment scheme application. Payments amounting to €44 million have now been made to almost 24,000 farmers of which €29 million was paid to almost 16,000 farmers in December 2015.
Payments in respect of 2016 scheme year will commence in December. There is an allocation of some €52 million in 2016 and it is expected to spend that allocation.
Under the RDP, knowledge transfer groups have been set up across six sectors – beef, dairy, sheep, tillage, equine and poultry. These groups will build on the success of the previous discussion groups, with the addition of one-to-one time between farmer and adviser to develop a farm improvement plan, FIP.
Each farmer receives €750 per annum per group - €375 in respect of a second group, if a farmer joins two groups.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
Each facilitator receives €500 per farmer per annum, an average of €7,500 to €8,500 per group. Almost 20,000 farmers have now been approved in knowledge transfer, KT, groups which began in June 2016. No payments are due to issue until the end of year one, that is, in quarter three of 2017.
The 2016 budgeted allocation for TAMS is €35.8 million. To date 4,965 approvals have issued across the initial four tranches of the TAMS II schemes. Payment is made when the approved works have been completed. Expenditure to 14 November is just under €5 million and payment claims continue to be submitted and approved on an ongoing basis.
The REPS 2016 allocation is €4.2 million and expenditure to 14 November 2016 is €2.5 million. Projected further spend to end of year is €1 million. It is expected that outstanding REPS payments will be made in the first week of December. These will almost exclusively be payments for supplementary measures which are made one year in arrears. The bulk of REPS participants exited the scheme at the end of 2014 with less than 850 remaining in the scheme to the end of 2015.
The agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, 2016 allocation is €38.4 million and expenditure to 14 November is €15.1 million, with a projected further spend of €21 million before year end.
Under the green low carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, over €17 million has issued in respect of the 2015 scheme year. The total active population in GLAS so far is some 37,400 and payments in respect of the 2016 scheme year, the first full year of the scheme, are scheduled to commence before the end of the year. Payment can only issue to participants who pass all the required validations. The total budget for GLAS in 2016 is €142 million and it is expected to spend that allocation.
With regard to the organic farming scheme, the 2016 budget allocation is €12 million and payments to 14 November are valued at €2.6 million, with an expected spend for the full year of €10 million.
In 2016, some €500,000 was voted for the collaborative farming scheme, that is, 200 cases at the maximum of €2,500. To date, €219,000, involving 170 cases, has been paid and it is anticipated that a further €110,000, involving a further 70 cases, will be paid before year end. All amounts claimed were well under the maximum allowable, hence the greater number of cases paid.
I thank the Minister for his response. As the Minister pointed out to me in a response to a parliamentary question I received on 14 November, up until that point in time only 52% of all rural development programme funding for 2016 had been paid out to farmers. The Minister knows as well as I do the enormous pressure that agriculture has been under this year, across nearly all sectors. There are significant cash-flow pressures. It has been a difficult year for dairy and a difficult year for sheep, and an exceptionally difficult year for the tillage sector, and, indeed, for beef. It is unacceptable that expenditure from that budget is backloaded to the end of the year when every effort should be made to bring as much of it forward. This can be done within the rules and regulations under which the Department must operate.
In relation GLAS, the Department has been slow in ensuring that the scheme was up and running so that full-year payments could issue to farmers. However, in relation to the overall budget which is €256 million for 2016, can the Minister give a guarantee that the budget will be spent in full this year and, if not, what will the funding be allocated towards instead?
I am slow to give guarantees that I cannot stand over, but it is the ambition in the Department to pay every farmer who has entitlement and we have made adequate budgetary provision in that regard. Some of the remainder of my reply dealt with payments under REPS, which is a previous rural development plan, which shows that these schemes do not fit neatly into five-year boxes. Some spill over into the new Rural Development Programme 2015-2020. For example, later in December, it is anticipated that €142 million will be paid out in respect of 37,400 GLAS applicants.
One specific area we have flagged where we have provided substantial funding for approved applicants is under TAMS. The Department recognises, however, that 2016 was a difficult year in respect of on-farm investment and many farmers may have made a prudent decision, because of cash-flow difficulties, not to invest.
That is entirely understandable. However, we have attempted to communicate with all farmers in an effort to encourage drawdown of the funds that we have provided under the budget. I assure Members and farmers that substantial funds are provided for under the rural development programme. There is €601 million for 2017, the highest provision ever. It is our ambition to pay every farmer who has an entitlement, subject to the statutory audits and checks that are part of every scheme.
As the Minister knows, the rural development programme is an essential part of agricultural income, funding and cashflow for farmers. The Minister indicated that many of the GLAS payments will be made in December. With regard to the beef data genomics programme, as of mid-November just over 50% of the €52 million budget for this year had been paid to farmers. Can the Minister update me on the position and give an assurance on those payments? When will farmers get them? Will the Minister also give an assurance that the budget will be spent this year? The uptake under the targeted agricultural modernisation schemes, TAMS, has been smaller this year. In respect of the €256 million budget for the rural development programme overall, it is crucial that what is allocated each year is spent each year. The Minister indicated that, as far as he is concerned, there can be follow-on from one CAP programme to the next. However, under the GLAS scheme there are specific allocations committed to by the Government for the duration of the CAP and also for each year. It is crucial that this is delivered on and that it ends up in farmers' pockets and is not withheld by the Department, particularly considering the enormous income pressures on farmers.
I assure the Deputy that the Department has no interest in withholding payment to any farmer, but there are issues regarding eligibility. Under areas of natural constraint, ANC, payments, for example, it may be the case that farmers might meet the eligibility requirements in the latter days of December, and they have the latitude to do that in respect of matters such as stocking density. That is why in 2016 we paid €15 million in ANC payments for 2015. I am sure the Deputy is not suggesting that when somebody meets the criteria for eligibility in the latter days of the year they should not be paid. The scheme does not lend itself to 1 January and 31 December deadlines, so we operate with some latitude at either end.
I will give the figures for the beef data genomics programme. Payments under that programme are calculated on the basis of the number of calved cows in 2014 and eligible hectares of forage land declared under the 2014 single payment application. Payments amounting to €44 million have now been made to almost 24,000 farmers, of which €29 million was paid to almost 16,000 farmers in December 2015. Payments in respect of the 2016 scheme will commence in December. There is an allocation of €52 million and it is expected to spend all of that allocation.
2. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans for the restoration of the national reserve for entitlements under the basic payments scheme for farmers, with particular reference to new entrants to farming, returning emigrants, farmers under 40 years of age who were not farming in reference years and old young farmers. [37869/16]
Will the Minister outline his plans for the restoration of a national reserve for entitlements under the basic payment scheme, with particular reference to new entrants to farming, returning emigrants and what is generally termed the forgotten farmers? While there are a small number of them throughout the country, it is a very serious issue that must be dealt with. This year there is no national reserve. Is there a plan for one next year?
The national reserve measure of the basic payment scheme provides for an allocation of entitlements to eligible applicants. EU regulations governing the national reserve provide that the two mandatory categories of "young farmer" and "new entrant to farming" must receive priority access to the reserve. A young farmer is defined as a farmer aged no more than 40 years of age in the year when they first submit an application under the basic payment scheme and who commenced their farming activity no more than five years prior to submitting that application. A new entrant to farming is defined as a farmer who commenced their agricultural activity during the previous two years and did not have any agricultural activity in their own name and at their own risk in the five years preceding the start of the current agricultural activity.
Returning emigrants who meet the eligibility criteria for applicants under the national reserve will be eligible to submit an application for an allocation of entitlements. The terms and conditions applicable to all categories under the national reserve require applicants to have a gross off-farm income of €40,000 or less in either of the two tax years prior to the year in which the application is made to the national reserve. All national reserve applicants must also comply with requirements in terms of an agricultural education qualification at Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC, level 6 or equivalent.
The regulations governing the operation of the national reserve also include an optional provision whereby member states may use the national reserve to allocate new entitlements or give a top-up on the value of existing entitlements for persons who suffer from a "specific disadvantage". Support for such categories can only be considered once the two mandatory categories of young farmer and new entrant have been catered for. Decisions regarding the eligibility of farmers under the specific disadvantage category of the national reserve require the approval of the European Commission.
Following my Department’s consultation with the European Commission, the then Minister announced in March 2015 that the group commonly known as old young farmers, who established their holding between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009, and who, due to the timeframe of setting up their holding, did not benefit from either the installation aid or the young farmer category of the national reserve, could be considered as a "group suffering from specific disadvantage". Following approval by the European Commission, this group was eligible to apply under the national reserve measure of the 2015 basic payment scheme. Some 280 applicants were successful under the old young farmer category of the 2015 national reserve. Therefore the old young farmer group has already been catered for under the 2015 national reserve.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
The group commonly known as the forgotten farmer group comprises farmers aged under 40 who established their holdings prior to 2008 and who hold no entitlements or low value entitlements. Preliminary analysis carried out by my Department shows there are 3,900 farmers in this category. An estimation of the cost of increasing the value of existing entitlements to the national average for these 3,900 farmers stands at in excess of €12 million. A Programme for a Partnership Government contains a commitment to further pursue the category of forgotten farmers at EU level.
In 2015, the national reserve fund was based on a 3% cut to the basic payment scheme financial ceiling and provided €24 million in funding which was the maximum financing rate available under the relevant EU regulations. There was no national reserve in 2016 as all available funding had been utilised under the 2015 scheme. To provide for a national reserve in 2017, funding is required to replenish the reserve. EU regulations governing the scheme provide that funding for the replenishment of the national reserve may be obtained by means of surrender of entitlements that remain unused by farmers for two consecutive years and by clawback derived following the sale of entitlements without land. It is envisaged that funding derived from these two sources in 2017 will be very limited. The regulations also provide for the option of applying a linear cut to all farmers' entitlements to fund the national reserve. Decisions on the national reserve for 2017 will be considered once the position on potential funding has been established.
Consultation between departmental officials and the direct payments advisory committee, comprising members of the main farming organisations, agricultural education and farm advisory bodies, takes place annually as part of the decision-making process for the national reserve.
The issue is not being dealt with. The Minister has set out the terms and conditions of it, but is there a reserve in place? Clearly, there is not and that is the issue we must discuss. A certain amount of money that will be unspent in various categories will come back to the Department and I cannot understand why there is a reluctance to put that to one side. If we are committed to the agriculture sector, we must look at getting new and young farmers in place who will have entitlements. At present, entitlements are not available to them. Will the Minister give a commitment to put the money to one side for the amount of entitlements that would be required? It is not a huge amount, given the number of people throughout the country who need to get this sorted. Will the Minister put that in place now to ensure either returning emigrants or people starting out in farming can have a future? This is really about ensuring they have a future.
I have dealt with the returning emigrants and the group known as old young farmers. The specific group where we have a difficulty and on which we are trying to progress is the forgotten farmer. The Department estimates there are approximately 3,800 or 3,900 such farmers. The issue here, and the Deputy hit the nail on the head, is that there is no reserve at present. Entitlements flow into the reserve in a couple of ways. Clawback on leases and unused entitlements for two years go into the reserve. At present, there is practically nil in the reserve fund.
There is another option available to put entitlements into the reserve and perhaps the Deputy will give his views on it. It is to top slice everybody's payment. In 2016, for understandable reasons given that it was a very difficult year, all farming organisations, with the exception of Macra na Feirme, said it could not happen. The Deputy might indicate his support for top slicing or cutting everybody's application by 2%, 3% or the required amount to give to applicants under the categories should the forgotten farmers be eligible, and there is an issue with getting that category of disadvantaged farmers over the line in respect of European Commission approval. However, if we get them over the line, the question is how we create an entitlement. I cannot just divvy out the little that might be available. I am obliged under the regulations to give them the equivalent of the national average. That can only realistically be done by top slicing. Perhaps the Deputy might indicate his support for that.
That is fair enough. We understand that and that it has been a difficult year for farmers. However, rather than top slicing everybody, my suggestion, which I believe would be acceptable to most people, is that we consider the top end. For example, almost 300 farmers in the country receive in excess of €100,000. If the Minister were to top slice them by 5% or 6%, it would create a pool of money amounting to €2 million to €3 million. Approximately 2,000 farmers receive more than €50,000. If the Minister were to top slice them by 2%, it would create approximately €3 million. That is the small amount of money required for this. Perhaps Members across the House should consider it. I do not believe it is something that the vast majority of Members or, indeed, the vast majority of people in the farming organisations could oppose. We are talking about taking it from the very top and putting it into the bottom where it is needed. I believe we should try to find a consensus on doing something of that nature. It will not take a great deal of money. All it requires is the will and the agreement. Of course, there will be pressure from the farming organisations who will be looking after the guys at the top, but we must look after the people who are starting off. They are the future, and this is about creating something for the future.
I will give a quick summation of the mathematics involved. The Deputy has offered a suggestion for €5 million. The cost of dealing with the 3,900 farmers, as estimated by the Department, is €12 million, so there is €7 million to find. We are still not making enough from the Deputy's proposal, which is targeting some but not all.
My calculation is on the back of an envelope, but it must be assessed.
To be fair, I cannot proceed on the basis of the back of an envelope, nor can I proceed in breach of EU regulations.
The first hurdle I have to clear, and I do not want to underestimate the challenge we face, is to get EU approval to include this category. If we secure them as an approved category, eligible to draw from the reserve, we have to consider how we would create a reserve that would be able to meet the requirements to give all eligible applicants the benefit of a national average payment from the reserve. They are not easy challenges to overcome but the first one that must be cleared is the one at EU level.
3. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the total participation levels and expected payment levels for farmers under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; if all allocated funds will be spent on the programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37785/16]
My question asks the Minister to give the latest update on total participation levels and expected payment levels for farmers under the green, low-carbon, agri-environment scheme, GLAS. It also asks whether the Minister expects the allocated funds to be spent in full and, if not, if he will indicate what any underspend will be directed towards?
The first two tranches of GLAS resulted in almost 38,000 farmers being approved into the scheme in its first year of implementation. This represents an unprecedented level of participation in the first year of an agri-environment scheme in Ireland. This scheme is providing support to Irish farmers to deliver environmental benefits and public goods which will enhance Ireland's agriculture sustainability credentials into the future.
This scheme is playing a critical role in enhancing Ireland's efforts to deliver sustainable agricultural production. The scheme provides support to Irish farmers aimed at enhancement of biodiversity, water quality and mitigation of future impacts of climate change while allowing Irish farmers to improve their agricultural productivity and practices in a sustainable manner. It is critical that we protect the Irish countryside for the benefit of all, and GLAS provides support to Irish producers to do this while enhancing their ability to deliver sustainable food production, which is making a critical contribution to growth in the Irish economy.
In launching the third tranche of GLAS, I was fully aware of the need to maximise participation in the scheme, in particular to maximise the participation of farmers with the most important environmental assets and farmers who can deliver the actions with greatest impact environmentally. Given the interest in the scheme to date, I am confident that the third tranche will result in participation levels meeting expectations and result in all the funding provided for in Ireland's Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 being used. It is clear given the interest in the third tranche to date that the overall target participation level for the scheme of at least 50,000 farmers can be met. This will mean that by 2017, 50,000 farmers will be fully participating in GLAS, delivering benefits which will enhance the Irish environment for many years to come.
Selection into the scheme will depend on the level of applications received and the available funding, so I would again urge farmers, in consultation with their advisers, to select the most environmentally impactful actions on their applications as this will increase their chances of selection into the scheme. The same criteria for priority access to the scheme as applied in previous tranches will be applied to GLAS 3.
I reiterate that given the projected level of participation in the scheme, all available European funds and matching funds over the rural development plan programming period will be fully utilised.
My question also asked the Minister to indicate the average projected payment levels but he did not refer to those in his response. Those are important in terms of whether the total spend, as projected, will be met. I have a concern about that, and the figures show that we are on course for GLAS to have a significant underspend between now and the end of the rural development programme in 2020.
The Minister, as well as his predecessor, and his Department have been too slow in getting the scheme up and running. As indicated in my first priority question, the vast majority of farmers who have applied for GLAS have not had a full year's payment yet, despite the fact the CAP programme has been up and running for more than two years at this stage.
My information from a reply to a previous parliamentary question is that the average spend was €4,600. If that were to continue and if the number of participants was to reach 50,000 capacity, there would be at least a €20 million overspend for the remainder of the scheme on top of the underspend on it so far. I want the Minister to clarify the average spend. Will the €1.45 billion committed to by the previous Minister, Deputy Coveney, be spent in full by the end of 2020, and if not, on what will the money be spent?
I have already indicated ad nauseam in the Chamber that the record of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on previous rural development programmes and on this one is to spend every penny that has been allocated. As I said in reply to the Deputy's first parliamentary question, the schemes do not lend themselves to 1 January to 31 December absolutist deadlines. That is why we are still paying some rural environment protection scheme, REPS, and agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, payments because they spill over. The proof of that is that farmers are in the process of applying for inclusion under GLAS 3 and their five-year entitlement will run beyond 2020.
The Deputy is correct, and he has asked this question again, that the average payments under GLAS 1 and GLAS 2 is €4,600. The scheme is currently open for new applicants. The ambition is to reach 50,000 new applicants and that will ensure the commitment to spend under the RDP GLAS will be met.
Let me be clear on this, the Minister and his predecessor have breached their commitment to farmers to spend €1.45 billion on GLAS by the end of 2020. That is what the Minister committed to and that is what he is backing away from. The net outcome of that is that farmers and farm families will not benefit from that income because it will not be spent by 2020 and will be kicked out until after that. The reason for that is that the Minister was slow in getting the GLAS off the ground and also, because the requirements to participate in it are very restrictive, the average payment is less than what was projected. The result is that farm families are not getting what the Minister committed to. If there is to be an underspend in GLAS by the end of 2020, which clearly there will be, I remind the Minister that his Government committed to spending €1.45 billion on this programme by the end of 2020, not later than that. My position is that this has to be spent within this rural development programme. How much of that funding will not be spent by the end of the programme? I ask the Minister for an absolute commitment that if that funding is not spent by then, it will be allocated to RDP schemes within that timeframe?
I ask the Deputy, in the context of his question, to reflect on why it is that we are paying REPS and AEOS payments now.
Why is the Minister not paying GLAS payments? He is not paying them because he was too slow to get the scheme up and running.
That is the way it works. The Deputy should know that.
The Deputy's suggestion, with which I totally disagree, is that new entrants to the GLAS now would only get three years payment.
No. It is certainly not.
We are committed to paying them for five years. The Deputy has to accept that once the RDP funding was secured, we had to submit a rural development plan to Brussels and it had to approve it. Once we got approval, we had to invite applications and payments GLAS payments began in late 2015. Then it was opened up to new applicants. The number that will ultimately benefit from this is 50,000. However, this will not fall neatly into the boxes that the Deputy seems to be dictating and it has never done so, nor has it ever done so in REPS and AEOS. The Deputy's suggestion would mean that new applicants to the scheme now would have only three years' entitlements. That is surely unfair.
4. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether farmers should be encouraged to expand production substantially in order to meet the €19 billion target of Food Wise 2025 when uncertainty reigns due to Brexit, trade deals and the general imbalance in supply and demand in world markets which would suggest that extra output will further reduce prices, undermine viability and risks leading farmers into further debt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37787/16]
The result of the Brexit referendum on 23 June has clearly created an environment of uncertainty as to how our relationship with the UK will change in the coming years. Food Wise 2025 highlights the ambitious targets of the food and drinks sector with a target of €19 billion in exports to be achieved by 2025. That requires a growth of €8 billion over the next nine years and there will probably be numerous trade deals as result of Britain entering trade deals with international partners such as Australia, New Zealand, North America and Mercosur. All those issues have to be addressed. Are we going to sleepwalk into a scenario where we overproduce which would have an impact on prices or is the Minister developing a plan to ensure we do not arrive in that situation?
Ireland is a small, open economy that exports the vast bulk of its main agricultural commodities. Therefore, producer prices here are largely determined by commodity prices on world markets rather than by production levels within Ireland. We have seen significant commodity price volatility on world markets over recent years. However, there are measures in place to help Irish farmers through these periods.
Direct payments estimated by Teagasc at more than €17,000 per farm in 2015 provide a valuable source of farm income support and act as a hedge against price volatility. Food Wise 2025, the new ten-year strategy for the agricultural food sector, identifies opportunities and challenges facing the sector and provides an enabling strategy that will allow the sector to grow and prosper. Food Wise 2025 includes more than 400 specific recommendations spread across the cross-cutting themes of sustainability, innovation, human capital, market development and competitiveness. As well as specific sectoral recommendations, Food Wise 2025 is not just about expanding production. I believe that moving up the value chain, where possible, in terms of the types of products sold and how they are produced is also an important hedge against volatility.
In light of the UK vote to leave the EU, Brexit has been included as a standard item on the agenda of each meeting of the Food Wise high-level implementation committee. It is clear that driving the implementation of the Food Wise recommendations, particularly those relating to market development, competitiveness and innovation, will assume even greater importance in the light of the decision.
The UK’s decision to leave the EU reinforces the need to develop as many outlets for our agrifood exports as possible to minimise our dependence on any one market. Indeed, this principle of market development is a key component of Food Wise. We have been very active in recent years in efforts to diversify markets, and in aiming to respond to consumer demands in emerging markets. In September, I was in south east Asia with the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, and I led a trade mission to China, Vietnam,. Singapore and South Korea. I have also recently been to Morocco and Algeria looking at diary and beef situation, particularly in respect of live exports of cattle.
Since taking up office, one of my priorities has been to address the impact of the sustained period of lower commodity prices on farmers. In that regard, we introduced a low-cost finance option in the budget and reformed the tax code to deal with farmers opting out of five-year income averaging in a particularly bad year. We are committed to further initiatives in this area. I have also increased funding under the rural development programme.
The UK is Ireland's largest customer for food and drink. Exports were valued at €4.4 billion in 2015. The UK takes approximately 40% of our food and drink exports. There has been strong growth in non-EU markets in recent years but the UK remains our main market, with the value of this trade increasing by more than €1 billion. Clearly, Brexit will have an important impact on targets. There should be a review of Food Wise 2025 in order that we do not sleepwalk farmers and ourselves into incurring additional capital investment to achieve targets, which could result in loss-making scenarios. In other words, the head would not be worth a wash. I accept that the Minister is not a soothsayer but surely it must be the essence of prudence to review matters by way of evaluating alternative scenarios that might emerge in order that the farming public might be fully advised. There will not be many agreements made. Under CAP, Ireland gets €1.2 billion and Brexit will have a huge impact on this. I have been on about this for a long time. What countries will fill the €10 billion hole in the CAP budget when the UK leaves? We had better be straight with farmers and say that Brexit will have an impact on CAP payments now. The Minister should not fiddle around and pretend that something will not happen when it is clear that it will happen.
The Deputy's argument seems to be predicated on the fact that the UK decision to leave the EU means we will lose a market for 43% of our exports. It will undoubtedly be challenged and this is why, for example, I have visited the UK twice to meet major multiples that buy substantial volumes of our exports. I will meet Andrea Leadsom, my UK counterpart, tomorrow to indicate that we are open for business and that, notwithstanding the challenges we face in the context of Brexit and the immediate adverse impact of currency fluctuation for Irish producers, we will not walk away from the market we understand best.
Food Wise 2025 is not the Department's blueprint; it is the industry's blueprint for itself. There is a high-level implementation committee and the Brexit decision has been placed on the agenda for every one of its meetings. We are, therefore, not burying our heads in the sand. Part of our strategy is to copperfasten our foothold in the UK market and part is to examine other market opportunities. There is no silver bullet or single policy option. Farmers are prudent. They will make the appropriate investment decisions themselves based on what they perceive to be the macro circumstances in which they operate.
Britain is only 60% self-sufficient and, of course, there will be a market. Given our linguistic and cultural links, our good products, including Origin Green, and sustainability, we will penetrate that market. However, let us face reality. A 1% weakening in sterling equates to a 0.7% decrease in exports to the UK. There is an 11% differential with sterling today but it was almost 50% at one stage. We must factor this in. Bord Bia and the other agencies are involved but has the Department adopted a co-ordinated approach to point out the scenarios to farmers? This decision will take five years or more to implement. When this is all over, farmers will be whinging and crying and saying "We were not informed". I want them to be informed as soon as the Minister finds it possible to do so. I acknowledge that he does not have a silver bullet and is not a soothsayer but, in so far as he can, he should outline a number of scenarios to ensure they are fully alert.
We have taken a number of initiatives, one of which was to establish a stakeholders forum. Farming organisations, those involved in the processing sector and the fisheries community are all inside the tent informing our deliberations on this matter. This is an unprecedented challenge. We are not all knowing and that is why we need to engage in the consultation process to give every one of those legitimate stakeholders a voice in order that we are better informed to feed from the forum into the dedicated Brexit unit in the Department, which is scoping out all the scenarios that might emerge, ranging from the worst-case, hard Brexit scenario to what we would prefer, which is as close to the status quo as possible. There are conflicting voices off stage. Some are arguing for a hard Brexit "to teach them a lesson", while others want us to end up as close to the status quo as possible. We do not know and, as the Deputy said, I am not a soothsayer in terms of envisaging where this will end up. There will be many more twists and turns and who knows whether they will be in the House of Commons, the British Supreme Court or anywhere else. We are adamant that we will listen to the voice of the industry and be informed regarding what we should do in that context.
5. Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is proposing to introduce emergency legislation to rectify the non-constitutionality of the arrangements agreed in view of the recent Supreme Court judgment relating to the Voisinage arrangements as part of the London Fisheries Convention 1964; if so, the timeframe for introducing such legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37786/16]
In light of the Supreme Court decision relating to the Voisinage agreement facilitating boats registered in Northern Ireland with an opportunity to fish within the 0 to 6 nautical mile zone, what steps does the Minister propose to take to give a legal base to the London Fisheries Convention 1964?
The recent Supreme Court judgment, to which the Deputy refers, relates to fishing activities by Northern Ireland vessels within the territorial waters of the State. The judgment arose from an appeal taken by a number of Irish mussel seed fishermen against the findings of the High Court.
The Supreme Court issued its judgment on 27 October, finding that fishing by Northern Ireland vessels within the 0 to 6 nautical mile zone of the territorial waters of the State, which relies on the Voisinage arrangements, is not permitted by law.
The background to this issue relates to arrangements which have long been in existence to provide access for fishing. The London Fisheries Convention 1964 allowed that each coastal state could assert exclusive fishing rights within 6 nautical miles from its baselines under Article 2. It also provided, under Article 9, for contracting parties to allow fishermen from another coastal state, who had habitually fished within that belt, to continue to do so through Voisinage arrangements.
On this basis, pre-existing reciprocal arrangements were reaffirmed at the time by means of an exchange of letters between the UK-Northern Ireland and Ireland in the 1960s, which allowed for vessels from Northern Ireland to fish within Ireland’s 6 nautical mile zone and vice versa. The Common Fisheries Policy provides for the continuation of such neighbourhood arrangements, specifically within Article 5 of Regulation 1380/2013.
It is important to note that the Supreme Court did not find that the Voisinage arrangements were unlawful but that, as it stands, there is insufficient provision for them in domestic law. Fishing activities that have a legal basis are not affected such as those reliant on the access arrangements to Ireland's 6 to 12 nautical mile zone set out in Regulation (EU) No. 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The Government is aware of the development, and the Attorney General's office is examining the Supreme Court judgment. My Department remains in close contact with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, DAERA, in Northern Ireland on this issue, and officials from both departments met last Friday to discuss it.
To address the issues raised by the judgment, I have asked my officials to proceed with the process of advancing the heads of a legislative amendment Bill to bring to Government. The Bill would address the immediate issue of providing sufficient legal provision for Northern Irish vessels to resume the reciprocal fishing access of the Voisinage arrangements.
I thank the Minister for the pragmatic approach he has taken. Lest one thinks that I am not representing Donegal and I am anxious to attract more vessels registered elsewhere to fish in the 0 to 6 nautical mile zone, a number of Donegal-owned vessels registered outside the Republic have traditionally fished in this zone. We often talk about the good relationship between the North and the South. It is important to roll back the clock to the early 1960s.
This is a result of a visit by former Taoiseach Seán Lemass when he met Captain Terence O'Neill who was the Prime Minister in the North at the time and they made this arrangement. Further to that, as the Minister stated, there was an exchange of letters culminating in this arrangement. The Minister has our full support on this side of the House with a view to ensuring the legislation, which is being prepared, comes to the House and is enacted.
I appreciate this is an issue for which all sides of the House are anxious to find a legislative fix as quickly as possible. That is also the objective within my Department. I have had considerable contact with my Northern Ireland equivalent, Michelle McIlveen, and obviously this is causing some concern to fishermen in Northern Ireland. It is my ambition to get us to a situation as quickly as possible where arrangements that existed prior to 27 October are reinstated but are done in a fashion that has a legislative framework around them. I will be taking a memo to Government very shortly on that matter and I hope that soon thereafter I will be in a position to introduce what will be a relatively minor amendment to fisheries legislation to facilitate this issue on a stand-alone basis.
I bring to the attention of the Minister that the intention at all times was that the vessels would be under 75 ft. If it were open ended, large vessels registered in Northern Ireland could fish in the zero to six nautical mile zone where vessels registered in the Republic of Ireland cannot fish. It is important that the length of the vessel is taken into consideration. Will the Minister make me aware of the number of vessels that have traditionally fished there, including the number registered in Northern Ireland or the Donegal-owned vessels that are registered in England or Scotland? Custom and practice should be taken into consideration as well.
I am not sure if I have the numbers the Deputy requires but I will ask my Department to inquire into the matter of the number of fishing vessels involved. My intention is to get to a situation where the status quo ante prevails.
On the 75 ft. vessels.
On the length of the vessels. If that was the situation previously, it will be the situation that will be provided for.
If it was not, perhaps the Minister will think about it because otherwise it will be an anomaly.
