Heydon intends to 'seek an increase' in current CAP funding proposals for Ireland
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has said he intends "to seek an increase" in the proposed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding to "ensure an adequate allocation for Ireland".
Minister Heydon acknowledged in the Seanad that the EU Commission proposals for the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) and CAP for 2028 to 2034 "signal a significant change to the structure of the EU budget".
"The proposed structure of the next CAP looks quite different from what we have now.
"The proposals for the next MFF include a guaranteed minimum ring fence of almost €300 billion for CAP.
"The obvious concern is this represents only 80% of the budget in the current MFF, which is €387 billion," the minister told senators.
According to Minister Heydon, his focus is now "on working closely with EU institutions and my counterparts in other member states to influence these ongoing negotiations".
"There is a long way to go and I see these proposals as an important starting point.
"It is my intention to seek an increase in funding to ensure an adequate allocation for Ireland as we progress through the detailed budget negotiations, which must be agreed by the Heads of State and Government in the European Council," Minister Heydon added.
The European Commission has presented the minimum national allocations for income support for the future CAP.
These amounts will guarantee income support for EU farmers until 2034.
The minimum recommended allocation for Ireland is €8.161 billion while the largest minimum allocations are recommended for France and Germany.
Later today (Tuesday, October 7), the European Parliament’s positions on two new pieces of farming legislation will be discussed in a joint debate with Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen.
Revised CAP rules on simplifying existing legislation for farmers and the introduction of greater flexibility into how environmental rules are applied will be discussed.
The amended rules on the organisation of markets in agricultural products are also scheduled to be debated today.
According to Ireland’s MEP on the European Parliament’s Budget Committee, Nina Carberry, many MEPs are not in favour of revised CAP rules on simplifying existing legislation.
“MEPs from the both the EPP and the Social Democrats are ready to push back and demand the commission withdraw key elements of this proposal if they are not revised.
"Farmers must not pay the price for budget cuts masked as simplification,” Carberry said.
