Common Agricultural Policy

8. Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of targeted CAP funding for 2027 (details supplied); and the specific emergency financial interventions his Department is implementing to support family farms through the cost-of-living crisis. [70424/26]

The proposed CAP cut to farming in County Wexford is massive, at €20 million. Across the border in Wicklow, it is €7.8 million. As the Minister knows, this is not just agricultural support. The CAP payments represent economic funding for the whole area - local shops, villages, towns, etc. Does the Minister recognise the unprecedented pressures that farmers are facing due to this cost-of-living crisis, the soaring diesel costs and after severe drought? Will the Minister outline specific financial interventions his Department is implementing to support the family farms? They are going through massive challenges, as he will know.

The figures the Deputy refers to would have been the original and current financial proposals. There is a significant process of negotiations going on around the overall multi-annual financial framework, MFF, budget for the EU for the next seven years. There will be change in that process and throughout that element with the negotiation box due to be published this weekend, which is another step in the process by the Irish Presidency. The agrifood sector has demonstrated its ongoing adaptability and resilience despite numerous uncertainties and economic pressures in recent years. The Government continues to provide strong support to farmers via Ireland's €10.3 billion CAP strategic plan as well as other national sectoral schemes. This results in payments to support farmers of over €2 billion annually. I am aware of the exceptional cost pressures that family farms are facing at present. I introduced a fuel income support scheme as a targeted income support alongside the fuel excise and levy reductions and the delay of carbon tax increases introduced by the Government. Today, total payments of €26.52 million have been made under the fuel income support scheme with over 31,000 farmers and contractors paid. I acknowledge the impact the prolonged dry weather had this year and the increased challenges that family farms face. The dry conditions resulted in significant supplementary feeding on affected farms particularly in the south east of the country and in the Deputy's constituency. The use of silage and other fodder conserved for winter feeding has increased costs while also reducing the quantity of fodder available for the coming winter. Responding to the ongoing challenges, I have also availed of the flexibility to increase the rate of advance payments under BISS, CRISS and eco-schemes from 70% to 75%, helping to put more money in farmers' pockets as early as possible in the year. Flexibility has also been provided on requirements associated with certain actions under ACRES and the scheme of investment aid for development of the commercial horticulture sector. On 25 September the Government granted a one-week extension to the slurry spreading season to 7 October, again showing flexibility between myself and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to be able to work to support farmers because of the change in the environment in farming this year.

The farmers and contractors I met this week feel it is not enough and they certainly were not happy with the budget. They pointed out that as we hold the Presidency of the EU we really need to be very forceful in negotiations, which I hope we will be. I met with Macra na Feirme in County Wexford last week and we discussed generational renewal and the many other challenges. They pointed out that the CAP income is absolutely crucial and that we cannot afford to lose a single cent of it. Food security was also mentioned, which is a real threat for the future in Ireland. Ireland's traditional family farm has been there for about 130 years, and agriculture in Ireland goes back 6,000 years. It is facing an existential threat. This is what many people feel. Three million have left the field across Europe. One third of the agricultural land in France has now been bought up by investors and corporations. The last thing we want to see in Ireland is agricultural land owned by corporations. We need to do everything we can at EU level and here to put a break to that because it is unconscionable.

I do not doubt the pressures everyone has experienced. I am a farmer's son who was raised in the 1980s. I was told there was no future for farming, Maastricht was going to be the end of us, fishing reform was going to be the end of us, greening was going to be the end of us and Brexit was going to be the end of us but it never was. My point was in the original answer but the resilience of our farming sector absolutely endures. I do not like catastrophising of issues. Yes, there are challenges and, yes, we meet people who are not happy. Everybody would always like more in a budget and so on. The Deputy mentioned contractors. I am the first Minister for agriculture to design a scheme that contractors can apply for. Some 3,000 contractors availed of the fuel income support in the first half of this year and I have secured approval to have a second tranche of that. For ten months of this year, fuel usage by contractors is being covered to the tune of 20 a cent a litre. Those 3,000 contractors who received significant payments in June and July this year will receive another tranche of that funding before the end of this year, which will be cash in their pocket to support them with the really high input costs they have for fuel.

A farmer I know in Kilrush just outside Bunclody did mention that he was grateful for the fuel supports but that this is the single greatest pressure he is facing. He said that the tank he is filling was €4,200 last year but this year it has been over €8,000. This is really not sustainable. He and others felt the budget did not do enough to help them. Any sort of temporary relief measures is needed as a matter of urgency. In terms of the negotiations with Europe, simplification is real issue. Any future negotiations need to have a simplified process to claim money. Farmers want to be farmers not accountants. They are being strangled by red tape. I have spoken to a lot of them and it is just unbelievable the amount of paperwork they have to go through to make a few quid. There has to be an easier way of doing things the same as we do with other sectors where the language is simplified. The process needs to be simplified and perhaps this message could be driven home too.

Happily, the Deputy can, after this debate, ring the farmer in Kilrush and can tell him he will get the same as he got under the scheme of financial support before the end of the year. It will be cash into his bank account, with no form filling. The Deputy talks about simplification and I completely agree. I was very frustrated in the past by the bureaucracy of form filling. I have introduced schemes. The first thing I did when I came into this job was to address the issues ACRES and streamline that. Some 98% of farmers are now paid. With the fuel income support, they had to go on to MyAgFood.ie and tick a box and say how much diesel they had used and it was calculated out from there. It was that straightforward. I have also secured €46 million in supports for the increase in the cost of fertiliser. That will be paid out in cash, so I presume the farmer in Kilrush will benefit from that as well. I will be able to use the data from last year's fertiliser usage under the national database and will be able to pay that money out in cash to farmers before the end of the year, without any red tape or bureaucracy. This is real simplification and real money into farmers' pockets.