Sinn Féin has called on Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to stand up for Irish family farms during the upcoming Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) discussions.

This call comes ahead of the European Commission publishing its proposals for the EU budget on Wednesday, which is suggested to include a merger of the CAP’s two-pillar model and a cut to its funding.

The 2023-2027 CAP budget is worth €9.8bn to Ireland, with over €6bn designated towards supporting Irish farm incomes.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny said Ireland must be to the fore in opposing the dismantling of the CAP budget.

“This two-pillar structure has worked well and has provided funding enabling Irish agriculture to develop to a level where we produce products of the highest standards in the world,” he said.

“We cannot have a situation where funding for agriculture can be cut because the Government wish[es] to allocate this new budget to something else. There are serious threats to food security with the threat of tariffs, a trade war and the impacts of the war in Ukraine on supply chains.”

Pillars

In the two-pillar structure of the CAP budget, pillar one provides direct payments to farmers, while pillar two provides funding for environmental and welfare schemes.

“We cannot allow for the CAP budget to be merged with other cohesion funds and given to the member states to allocate as they see fit. Irish agriculture and family farms need certainty that their livelihoods will be supported and protected,” added Kenny.

“The aim of CAP when it was established was to protect food security and now, more than ever, Irish and EU consumers need to protect food security.”

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End of two-pillar CAP is a threat to food security - Sinn Féin