2026-07-09

12. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on the progress of CAP negotiations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50992/26]

I ask the Minister to provide an update on the progress of CAP negotiations. The future of CAP will be critical for the farming sector and there are significant concerns about the European Commission's proposals.

I thank Deputy O'Hara for his question. Negotiations on the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy have progressed since the European Commission published its proposals last year. As President of the Council of the European Union, Ireland is now building on the progress made under the Danish and Cypriot Presidencies. Our priority is to facilitate discussions on the remaining political and technical issues, on the CAP-specific provisions transferred into the CAP regulation from the national and regional partnership plan regulation, and on the appropriate balance that must be struck between maintaining the common nature of the Common Agricultural Policy and providing member states with sufficient flexibility to design and implement interventions that reflect their national farming systems and circumstances. That is a challenge we are going to have to try to navigate in these discussions. It sounds nearly contradictory that on the one hand we want protect the commonality of the Common Agricultural Policy - our farmers have greatly benefited from being part of the Common Market of over 450 million people - but at the same time in designing a new scheme, if every measure is mandatory and if it is one-size-fits-all for every member state, it takes no account of the fact that we farm differently in Ireland than they do another member states, and we need that flexibility. I have been warned to be careful about how much flexibility I ask for because I might just get it and then have to own every decision. However, I would prefer that to having a system where every rule is the same for us as it is in Slovenia, France, Spain or Italy because we farm differently. We have to strike that balance. To support this work, Ireland is engaging bilaterally with all member states to better understand their priorities, identify the issues that are of greatest concern to them and clarify areas of the legislative proposals where further work is required. We have also invited member states to submit written comments on the legislative proposals. This engagement will inform the preparation of Presidency compromise texts, with the aim of building consensus, resolving outstanding issues and advancing negotiations. Our objective is to advance negotiations towards a partial general approach on the CAP regulation, which essentially means to agree all elements that do not have a financial or budgetary component that is still to be resolved by the negotiations on the post-2027 EU budget, which will be finalised at Head of State and Government level in the European Commission.

There are significant concerns about the reform that is being proposed to have CAP sit alongside a range of other policy areas. In particular under the Commission's proposal, CAP funding for Ireland would be cut by over 20%. This would mean our indicative CAP allocation reducing by €2.5 billion, endangering the delivery of many payment schemes which family farms depend on. Of course, this comes at a time when farmers are facing higher input costs, increased volatility, rising obligations and increased competition from low-standard imports, including from the Mercosur countries. We need the Government to be categorical in its opposition to cuts. Ireland's Presidency of the EU Council must be used as an opportunity to set the agenda that threats to CAP funding will not be accepted. Will the Minister outline what actions he will take to oppose the Commission's proposals and ensure that CAP funding is protected?

What is fairly clear from all utterances in the 17-odd months I have been in this job is my strong desire to protect the CAP budget, building alliances with member state colleagues in the AGRIFISH Council but also here in government and at Cabinet, articulating exactly why the CAP is so important to us. Ireland is a net contributor to the EU; we pay in more than we get back. That is something we should be proud of as a nation. We took the structural funds in the early years of being members of the EEC and we built an economy, a country and a society here that can be prosperous enough for us to be a net contributor. It is something we should be proud of. Those in certain other member states tell me they strive for that and look forward to the day their economies have such success that that is where they are at. We obviously want to maximise our return from being members of the European Union. There are huge benefits from being a member of that Common Market with over 450 million people. On the financial return, 75% of our receipts come back through the CAP. This is not just a matter for us here discussing agriculture and for people in rural areas. This matters to the whole economy because if we see a reduction in CAP, it will reduce the amount of money available to come back to the economy from Europe.

Absolutely, and that is why it is critical we get a fair allocation. In particular, the future of CAP will have a significant influence on how EU member states can support young farmers. Last year, the Department of agriculture published a report from the commission on generational renewal in farming. Have any actions have taken since the publication of those recommendations? I will focus on two recommendations: the introduction of the young farmer establishment payment and a generational renewal payment of up to €25,000 for older farmers. Both those recommendations would have a significant effect in encouraging more young people to become involved in farming. They provide an incentive for families to create succession plans. I ask the Minister for an update on any actions he has taken to progress these recommendations and more generally in terms of supporting younger farmers.

It is important to point out that we are talking about the Commission's proposals. Commissioner Hansen put forward the Commission's position last year as to how he would like to see the next CAP going. He has a lot of recommendations in that. My job, as part of the Presidency, is to progress the Council's position on the AGRIFISH Council for next six months. The Council is the 27 ministers for agriculture and fisheries across the EU and we will progress what our agreed position is. Our goal is to get a partial general approach agreed - the bits that do not involve the budget. If we do not have the budget agreed globally, we cannot agree the budget elements in that. However, if we have a partial general approach, we have a fair set on what the Council of Ministers say their proposals should be. We have had the discussion on pension proposals and generation renewal. That was looking to mandatorily take the single farm payment from farmers who receive the State pension. It is not an issue for France because France does not pay it to them already. It is a huge issue for us because we have many farmers who do not have an identified successor and we would be taking a single farm payment from them. That has been moved from being mandatory. Our position is that we are going to have that as a voluntary position to be offered but not mandatory.