Farmers in western counties such as Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal and Roscommon are all losing out under current payments made through the Common Agricultural Policy, according to independent TD Marian Harkin.
The Sligo Leitrim TD spoke on the matter during a debate in the Dáil with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue on the current CAP negotiations.
“It makes no sense that current CAP payments are linked to production levels in 2000 – it is illogical and unfair,” the independent TD said.
Deputy Harkin referenced the change in the previous CAP where 30% of Pillar I payments went to greening measures, claiming:
“In Ireland we had, and still have, the situation where two farmers in the same county doing exactly the same measures under greening were paid significantly different amounts per hectare.
“This difference could be up to €100/ha, and that was fundamentally wrong – because both farmers were completing precisely the same measures,” she said.
Deputy Harkin asserted that many farmers in the west of Ireland were “sold a pup” with “false promises” around rural development payments that were supposed to compensate for minimal moves on convergence in Pillar I payments.
REPS was “eviscerated”, she said, and payments for rural development measures were less than in the previous CAP.
According to Deputy Harkin, the majority of farmers in counties like Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal and Roscommon lost out in both Pillar I and Pillar II payments in the last CAP and ‘these farmers cannot lose again’, she insisted.
Deputy Harkin recognised that some intensive farmers on low acreage could be disproportionately affected by convergence.
In that context voluntary coupled payments would assist – as would frontloading the Pillar I payments, she concluded.
Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture Matt Carthy and Minister McConalogue also clashed on the topic of CAP reform during the Dáil debate.