SF would limit SFP to €100,000
“Statistics show that in 2011, just 243 of the more than 123,000 Irish recipients of the payment received over €100,000, yet that accounts for a significant proportion of the payments that come to Ireland. We believe that those funds could be better used in supporting small to medium active producers,” Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said in the recent Seanad Éireann debate on the EU’s CAP.
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney told the Seanad that how member states distribute CAP direct payments such as the single farm payment within their jurisdictions is a red-line issue for him in CAP reform negotiations.
He revealed he is organising public meetings on the CAP negotiations around the country, one in each province, over the next few weeks. “It is important to get an open discussion going because if we do not have a national discussion on an issue of such importance that impacts on the everyday income of 130,000 farm families, then rumours take hold and I do not want to allow that to happen.”
“If a national flat rate were introduced in Ireland, approximately 76,000 farmers would gain an average of 86% on their current payments while in the region of 57,000 would lose an average of 33%.”
“Members might say that I, as a politician, should support the proposal in this regard, because far more people stand to gain than will lose. That may be the case but I want to build a bigger, stronger and more profitable industry in this country.
“Taking a large amount of money from a relatively small number of people and spreading it out among all of those involved — some of whom may be less productive either through no fault of their own or because they are hobby farmers — would not be a good way to proceed.”
He said Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Luxembourg have given written support to Ireland’s stance that member states have the option of redistributing funds within their own jurisdictions, and he has received principled support from France.
“Countries such as Belgium and Austria have problems which are similar to ours and have suggested a slightly different solution in the context of how these can be resolved. I am trying to negotiate a compromise with the commissioner.
“The ultimate solution probably rests somewhere between his proposals and ours. We want to achieve an understanding in respect of granting flexibility to countries which simply cannot move to a flat-rate, area-based payment without destroying productive agriculture in their jurisdictions.”
He received support from senators such as Fergal Quinn. Senator Paul Bradford said: “I want to ensure that we do not permanently categorise a group of farmers as people who cannot be most productive. I appreciate that is a difficult balance to strike because we are trying to support the commercial farmers who are at the heart of production, and that must be maintained, supported and developed, but we must also look at the tranche of people who may not be producing in the desired quantities to see how we can help them move on to a new phase.”
“We cannot afford to pull up the drawbridge and leave a certain grouping behind. Previously, certain policies were designed in that regard but I hope the minister will try to take that into account.”
Senator Paschal Mooney said: “The balance the minister must try to achieve is on the one hand to protect and develop the more productive elements of agriculture but at the same time to assist the many farming families, which through no fault of their own, in particular in my part of the country in Connacht and Ulster who rely on farm payments.
