Relevant Matter
Matters involving public funds
Public Policy Area
EU Affairs
Period
1 Jan, 2025 to 30 Apr, 2025
Specific Details
CAP Strategic Plan Annual Financial Report 2024
Intended results
To welcome the fact that annual CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) targets are being met/exceeded in most instances.
To highlight that, where interventions are not paid for under the CSP, it would be useful to outline position were it to be included, to better profile on-farm endeavour and/or how aligned (or otherwise) current status is relative to 2024 targets.
To highlight that some of the intervention commentary in the report is from a generic / high level perspective, and replicated throughout. Hard to decipher significant meaning / detail from information provided.
That the report is lacking, which requires redress, is detail re the implementation challenges experienced through 2023 which led to delayed payments (TAMS & ACRES) for farmers, and why individual targets may not have been fully met;
That reference made to a wide-ranging Communications plan re ACRES & TAMS issues through 2024, would challenge how comprehensive/effective when often little/no stakeholder engagement & direct farmer engagement. Farmers in ACRES were particularly left in the lurch re scorecards; how much/when payments would land; NPIs etc.
That in Section 1.4 should GAEC-2 not be listed here as ‘Derogation from GAEC standards in 2024?
To seek explanation/clarification of expenditure incurred re NPI – no approvals to Dec '24 which is outside scope of this reporting period.
To highlight that clarification/commentary is needed on whether Ireland was (& indeed still is) in breach of Art 44. of the Parliament and Council (EU) Regulation No 2021 / 2116 pursuant to which the ACRES scheme is run, specifically non-receipt of entitled full payments by June 30th 2024.
To seek clarification re TAMS WCIS- ‘Over 1100 applications have been submitted in TAMS 3 under the Woman Farmer Scheme with approximately 700 approvals issued to the end of FY2024' - yet nothing paid out from CAP budget, despite confirmation at Charter meeting on 14th October that payments had started under WCIS.
To welcome getting a breakdown of TAMS 3 budget, most especially were Ranking and Selection required.
To question, with regard to CIS-YF More and more applications year on year brings about a fluctuating or reduced rate. Last two years has been lower than anticipated €170/ha. Will this be likely to decrease again if more young farmers sign up? Where is budget at?
To meet with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to discuss the EU CAP budget.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Francie Gorman IFA President, Damian McDonald IFA Director General, Tadhg Buckley IFA Director of Policy & Chief Economist, Shane Whelan IFA Senior Policy Executive, Rachel Moloney IFA Policy Executive
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Informal communication (2-5)
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Martin Heydon
Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Brendan Gleeson
Secretary General (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)