Common Agricultural Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-09
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

To go back to the broader point about the funding, the ring-fenced budget is 76% of the past seven years. It is not enough. It is not nearly enough for what we need, what our ambitions are and what we want to do over the next seven years to support the agriculture, food and fisheries sectors. In terms of the mechanics of how we do this, we have the €45 million that President von der Leyen brought forward as a proposal in January. We have conditionality through the national regional partnership plan, NRPP, structure around a certain amount having to go to social cohesion. There is more money to be chased in terms of the overall pot but there is conditionality around it. This is where I am talking about flexibility and member states having the flexibility to be able to access it. This is about us being able to access additional money to increase that percentage. I am working with colleagues across member states to be able to do that.
In terms of the point on coupled payments, this is directly linked to what happens with entitlements. Right now, there is no provision for entitlements. Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 are gone and the NRPP structure is here to stay. I do not think farmers could really tell us what pillar their payment came from; they just know what is important about it. We have to work within the mechanisms. I am happy that in recent times, under the Cyprus Presidency, we did get a number of decisions made, such as on active farming, under the CAP regulation and not the NRPP regulation, which means it will be the agriculture ministers deciding, which is very important.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09