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There is no question of the coronavirus recovery fund being at the expense of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has told the Irish Farmers Journal.
At the European Council meeting this week, heads of states discussed the urgent need for a recovery fund commensurate to the scale of the challenge of COVID-19, with An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stressing the need for urgent financial support for farmers.
Minister Creed said the Taoiseach specifically mentioned agriculture at the European Council because he’s acutely aware of the impact COVID-19 is having on the Irish agri-food sector, given that we are more dependent on food-service than most other European countries, particularly for our beef and dairy.
“The Taoiseach is acutely aware of the impact at farmgate level.
“Obviously there is a secondary issue running which is the funding of the European Union for the next number of years, but there is no question of that coronavirus recovery fund being at the expense of the Common Agricultural Policy.
“The Taoiseach was clearly stating that what’s needed is an appropriate targeted response now on the agricultural sector,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Specific aid package for Irish farmers
When asked if Ireland seeking a specific aid package for Irish farmers and if farm organisations asked him to go to Europe for such a package, he said that he and his department have “been active on this matter for several weeks now”.
“I was entirely unhappy at the initial response by the Commission, which seemed to be a suggestion that by relaxation of state aid rules that the common element of the Common Agricultural Policy could be forgotten and that member states will go and fix the issue from their own resources.
There is no question of that coronavirus recovery fund being at the expense of the Common Agricultural Policy
“Given the fact that we are more export dependent because of a small domestic consumer market here that approach simply wouldn’t work for us and ... re-nationalising the Common Agricultural Policy and the common market in particular is not something that we could support at all.
Vanguard
“And we have been, therefore, to the forefront and in fact led a petition subsequently supported by all other member states, asking the Commission to respond in a meaningful way with a number of specific asks including aid for permanent storage, including exceptional aid measures for the livestock sector, etc.
“So we have been in the vanguard in terms of, you know, galvanising support across member states, a common response to a common issue across all member states,” he said.
Unused BEAM money
The Irish Farmers Journal asked the minister if it is possible to use the unused BEAM money as support now for farmers hit by market losses, as called for by the IFA last week.
“The unused BEAM money that you allude to, just over €20m, that was actually reallocated in Budget 2020 for the BEEP 2 scheme, which is currently open to applications and I would encourage every suckler farmer to apply under that scheme as it is an important support and significantly enhanced from the original pilot scheme,” he said.
“My view is that the imperative is to get money to farmers given the difficult market circumstances, and the losses that they are incurring.
“For that reason, I believe that our efforts to secure exceptional aid measures under the CMO regulations is where our endeavours are rightly focused now to deliver a payment to farmers at farmgate level.”
Support under CAP
The Taoiseach said support is needed for farmers under current CAP provisions: what measures could be used for Irish farmers and will Ireland be looking to use these measures?
“I mean, they’re well documented. There are some elements of them, albeit modest, contained in the Commission’s response earlier this week. The missing piece is the exceptional aid measures and that is, for example, the heading on which we got support last year for the beef sector from the Commission of €50m.
“So we continue to press the Commission to respond in a meaningful way. These are the kinds of supports that should be available under the Common Agricultural Policy - exceptional aid for the livestock sector and meaningful APS for the dairy and livestock sectors.
“We’ve broken new ground with the Commission in terms of their acceptance that it has to move on from waiving of state aid rules. What we now need is more money in the pot. And in particular, we need to move on exceptional aid. That’s where our focus is,” he said.
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