Farm leaders are being told they were ‘wrong not to attend’ yesterday’s meeting with the Agriculture Minister.
The Irish Farmers’ Association was meant to talk to Charlie McConalogue about new changes to nitrogen limits for dairy farmers, but boycotted the meeting instead.
It held a picket with four other groups outside the Department of Agriculture, over plans to force farmers to reduce their herd numbers or get extra land.
However Independent TD Michael Healy Rae says they should have gone into the meeting………..
The increases will kick in as Ireland’s current nitrates derogation comes to an end.
Minister McConalogue says it’s now critically important to focus attention on improving water quality to support a credible case for the renewal of the derogation in 2026. With that in mind, he has established an Agriculture Water Quality Stakeholders Group, to build consensus around how best to support this case.
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Minister’s statement in full –
McConalogue Clarifies Position on Nitrates and Payments
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D, this evening issued a statement clarifying the position in relation to the Nitrates Derogation and the schedule of payments under the CAP, following a meeting with ICMSA earlier today.
Referring to the derogation issue, the Minister said:
“Ireland is one of only three member states who have negotiated a Nitrates Derogation. Ireland’s allowance is the highest of those three. The current derogation decision requires a reduction from 250kg/ha to 220kg/ha in significant areas of the country from 1st January 2024, because there has not been sufficient improvement in water quality. Without that provision, the strong likelihood is that Ireland’s derogation would not have been renewed at all, or the allowance would have been lower from the beginning.
“My Department and I have been engaged in detailed discussions with the EU Commission to seek an extension to the higher allowance until the end of the current period. It is now crystal clear that the Commission will not re-visit Ireland’s current derogation decision. It is important that farmers know that, so that they and their advisors can prepare for the revised arrangements next year. There may be some scope for some minor adjustments in the mapping, but this is unlikely to impact the vast majority of derogation farmers.”
The Minister said that it was critically important now to focus attention on improving water quality to support a credible case for the renewal of the derogation in 2026. With that in mind, he has established an Agriculture Water Quality Stakeholders Group, to build consensus around how best to support this case. He also referred to the supports provided to farmers to improve water quality, including accelerated capital allowance for storage, a €60 million European Innovation Project for Water Quality, an enhanced Advisory Service under the ASSAP Programme and investment grants to assist farmers in improving water quality.
Referring to supports for capital investment, the Minister said:
“I was happy to be able to indicate to ICMSA today that my Department will be accepting 100% of eligible Tranche 2 applications into TAMS, including those relating to slurry storage. I know that they were very concerned that farmers were awaiting approvals for capital projects to improve water quality. Today I indicated that my Department would, in the next few days, announce a system to prioritise urgent approval cases for slurry and manure storage facilities, and urgent animal welfare related investments, required for the winter of 2024. I will be making a further announcement on this very shortly.”
The Minister also referred to the proposed dates for payment under new CAP:
“Earlier this year I wrote to farmers outlining the payment dates for schemes under the new Common Agricultural Policy. It was important to be straight with farmers about the payment date implications that this new and significantly different CAP would bring. I expect that more than €1.8 billion in payments will issue to farmers before the end of the year, and that Ireland will be the first Member State in Europe to make such payments. I will be writing to farmers in the next few days to remind them of these dates, but in short, payments under the ANC Scheme (Areas of Natural Constraint) are likely to be some three weeks later than those issued last year, while payments under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) are likely to commence approximately one week later than payments under last year’s Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).
I would prefer to be in a position to make these payments earlier, but this is simply not possible this year. I was pleased to be able to confirm to ICMSA today, however, that we would bring these payment dates forward next year when the new CAP has bedded in”.
Concluding, the Minister said:
“I look forward to ongoing engagement with all farm organisations as part of finalisation of the Farmer’s Charter negotiations, and implementation of the related targets under an independently chaired monitoring committee.
My Department will continue to build on already significant efforts to ensure the transition to a new programming period is as smooth as possible.
I remain fully committed to ensuring that all farmers receive payments at the earliest possible juncture and will be continuing to seek improvements and efficiencies with my Department over time and as the programming period evolves.
