Common Agricultural Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

It is not only us who are saying the Deputy is wrong. The Social, Economic, Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland also says he is wrong in that it has very much welcomed these changes and said that they will help small farmers in the area of forestry and beyond. It is very easy to polarise these issues and the Deputy is dead right; I have no doubt I will be back here disagreeing with him again on other definitions. However, with regard to the next CAP, our definition of an "active farmer" will be pivotal. It will impact what we do on generational renewal and in many other spaces. We will need to have a fair and honest discussion on all of the supports and measures that are now in place. Are they delivering what we need them to? Do they in some ways act as a barrier to those who actively want to farm and drive on? The State resources employed to support farmers are very significant, as are the European resources, but we always have to ask whether they are doing what they say on the tin and whether they are best delivering on our policy objectives. I look forward to debating those points here. I am sure that, if the Deputy were to put a specific question on forestry to the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, he would also be happy to debate the matter.
I am aware of the particular case in Waterford that Deputy McGuinness has raised. It is a bit beyond the scope of this question. The issue of single farm payments comes down to who is the active farmer. That is the position on that question. I hope a resolution can be found in the near future.
On Deputy Kenny's point on generational renewal and so on, this is going to be a really challenging debate. Commissioner Hansen's proposals talk about an increase from 3% of the budget to 8%. That would be really ambitious in the context of an increased budget and a lovely thing to deliver. If we are 20% down on the last budget, it is going to be really hard to deliver. Where do you cut money from to deliver in these areas? That may be a mandatory measure. These are the things we are trying to work through. We are trying to secure the maximum amount of flexibility so that we can be sure that interventions will deliver on generational renewal while also supporting all other sides of farming.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19