Govt Focus Must Be on Securing CAP Budget
IFA President Joe Healy said the Department of Agriculture CAP analysis published today does not show the full impact of the CAP proposals as it omits the impact of the €97m per annum cut which is part of the current EU Commission proposal. This amounts to €678m for the seven years of the CAP programme, before the impact of inflation.
The Irish Government must reject the CAP cut and insist that the CAP budget is increased in line with inflation and to compensate farmers for any extra asks on them as part of the new CAP.
“The Department’s analysis of the CAP proposals focuses on the elements of the proposals which will effectively redistribute money between farmers. The elephant in the room is the size of the overall budget,” he said.
“We need to keep the focus on this and not get distracted by a debate on how the money will be distributed. One thing is certain – the smaller the overall budget, the more farmers will lose out,” he said.
“What the Commission has proposed has not been agreed. The Government must direct their energies at building support for a bigger budget,” he said.
“In 1985 the CAP made up over 55% of the overall EU budget (MFF). Under the latest proposals it will be less than 30%. The EU are effectively raiding the CAP budget for other initiatives. This has to stop. Farmers cannot be expected to do more and more for less and less” he said.
The EU Council is due to meet on October 17th/18th where the EU Budget for the next seven years will be discussed. We see other countries setting out their redlines in recent days. The Taoiseach needs to tell the EU Council that Ireland won’t be signing up to the new budget unless there is an increase in CAP funding,” he said.
