After weeks of back and forth – described by Fianna Fáil senator Paul Daly as “shenanigans” – the Senad finally debated a Sinn Féin motion on the ongoing ANC review calling for “the payments going forward to properly reflect both the multiple bio-physical and specific constraints experienced by farmers who farm mountain-type land, and for those payments to be set at similar rates to the current offshore islands rate”.

The motion, drafted with the INHFA, calls for mountain sheep grazing land to be retained as a separate ANC category and asks the Government to publish proposed maps for the new ANC areas in time to have a proper consultation.

Sinn Féin senator Padraig MacLochlainn argued that ANC payments were originally designed for Connacht and Donegal. “As years passed, they were extended for political reasons” and should now be re-centred on “farmers that are genuinely disadvantaged”, he said. Daly said Fianna Fáil supported the motion.

There is no land anywhere on the island of Ireland that is more disadvantaged than the islands off the coast of Ireland

Minister Creed dismissed the hill farming proposals for two reasons. “There is no land anywhere on the island of Ireland that is more disadvantaged than the islands off the coast of Ireland – I would challenge anybody to the contrary,” he said.

He added that there was no funding available to bring all hill farmers to the level of payments applicable to the islands: “If we were to acceed to the proposal, we would take €150m out of the €200m we have available.”

Several senators argued that the underspend observed in other schemes under the Rural Development Programme (RDP), such as the late start to the Sheep Welfare Scheme or the low initial uptake of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme, could be used to boost the ANC budget in addition to the extra €25m promised for next year under the Programme for Government.

Fairytale

However, Minister Creed said that a Department of Agriculture study had concluded that all RDP funds would be spent. “There seems to be this view – this is fairytale stuff – that there is a massive underspend in the Rural Development Programme,” he said. “There is no headroom to say we can re-allocate funds to another programme.”

The minister added that it was too early to say how many categories there would be in the new ANC scheme or how different their payment rates would be, but promised substantial consultation with stakeholders on these issues and eligibility maps.

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