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Basic Payment Scheme Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 April 2019

Wednesday, 17 April 2019

Ceisteanna (195)

Martin Kenny

Ceist:

195. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers by county who will secure an increase in their basic farm payments; the number who will receive a reduced payment in the event of full internal convergence of payments as supported by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17917/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The draft legislative proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020 were launched by Commissioner Hogan on 1 June 2018.  The proposals, as drafted, involve significant changes, including in relation to governance, the distribution of direct payments among farmers and the increasing environmental conditionality attaching to such payments. There will also be some additional discretion for Member States in configuring the measures available, within parameters laid down in Council Regulations.  

The recent meeting of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament concluded a series of votes on the CAP reform package, including the adoption of an alternative compromise amendment on internal convergence which calls for full harmonisation of aid per hectare within Member States by 2027.

My Department is a strong proponent of evidence-based policy making, and I can confirm that work is currently underway to analyse the impact of the various elements of direct payments in the draft regulations. Preliminary modelling exercises have been carried out and the results of these analyses are currently being reviewed and revised to take account of the most recently available data.

All direct payment measures including the proposed Basic Income Support for Sustainability payment, the Complementary Redistribution of Income Support for Sustainability payment, the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers and the Eco-Schemes are inextricably linked to each other. This means that each time one of the elements is changed, each of the other elements also must change. As a result, any analysis, including analysis on convergence, only remains current until one of the elements changes.

This state of flux is likely to continue until the regulations are fully developed, at which time detailed analyses will be completed to fully address the impact on farmers in Ireland of CAP 2020. This methodology is congruent with the requirement for each Member State to prepare a Strategic Plan addressing all aspects of CAP expenditure and, consequently, all of these analyses remain at a drafting stage until the Regulations are resolved.

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