Jury still out on Waterford IFA motion on payment regionalisation

“It’s something I’m not in favour of. The current CAP proposal is at a level far too complex. This proposal is not to the benefit of Irish agriculture or people in the west of Ireland who are struggling up here under difficult circumstances. Ireland is far too small to regionalise payments and to go chopping and changing things. It shouldn’t be acted upon.”

“Regional convergence will be up for discussion in Donegal, we have yet to take a stance on it. Currently everyone is out for themselves. The best approach is everyone should be equal, and we need more unity among farmers. The active farmer has to be looked after as a priority.”

“There’s an illusion out there that convergence is taking from the big guy and giving it to the little one. It’s not as simple as that. Overall the county has gained around €500,000 but within it there’s some gaining and others losing. To give an example, there’s a drystock farmer with 35 sucklers who has seen his payment drop from €17,500 to €13,000 through convergence. His neighbour is milking over 200 cows and he is actually gaining from convergence.”

“The regionalisation of payments idea really comes too late in the CAP process for my liking. We have to focus on the issues still in play.”

“We’ve to maintain that the active farmer keeps as much of his or her payment as possible.

“Those who do the work and take the risk have to be rewarded. The active farmer must be rewarded as much as possible and convergence must be kept to a minimum.”

“Regionalising payments is not going to solve the problem. No matter what happens you’re not going to keep everyone happy.”

“I can’t see how that would work. Any scheme has to be across the board. I couldn’t see it being implemented and the implementation of regionalising payments, it wouldn’t be workable for the Department either.”

“It’s too soon to propose regional convergence. We need to see what decision will be made in Brussels first. We need to know if convergence will be at 85% or 100%. Eco schemes will also influence our decision as it’s a type of convergence in itself if it will be paid on a flat-rate basis. We also don’t know if eco schemes will make up 25% or 30% yet. Front-loading will also influence our decision. We don’t know if it will be mandatory or not yet.”

“I wouldn’t be in favour of regionalisation of payments. I think if we go down that road, it would prove very divisive.”

“I’m aware of regionalisation and the Waterford motion. It hasn’t come up in Limerick as yet. We would need to see some modelling to understand just how this concept would affect farmers’ payments. I wouldn’t be prepared to take a stance on it until I saw some figures.”