Minister Charlie McConalogue has been asked to explain his ‘bizarre behaviour’ at EU level where he voted against proposals that would see an additional €10million delivered to Donegal farmers.
Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn said he is calling on the Minister for Agriculture to appear before the Dáil to answer questions on the matter.
CAP negotiations that were expected to conclude this week ended without agreement between the European Parliament and the block’s agriculture ministers.
“Donegal is one of the counties set to benefit the most from full-flattening of basic farm payments. This alone would see an estimated additional €9,888,483 allocated to Donegal farmers,” Deputy MacLochlainn said.
“So, why has the Minister from Donegal fought so hard against this at EU level?”
The Sinn Fein TD claimed that, instead, Minister McConalogue is within a minority of agriculture ministers that want to keep the ‘inequality of payments’ in place.
“These payments are based on production levels of twenty years ago,” MacLochlainn said.
“Charlie McConalogue has been fighting against the rebalancing of those payments, as has happened in nearly every other EU country, that would deliver extra money to Donegal farmers. He has been fighting against measures that would ‘front-load’ payments meaning that there would be a higher payment on the first number of hectares, being of particular benefit to smaller farmers.”
Deputy MacLochlainn also accused the minister of fighting against proposals that would place a maximum limit on the amount that any one farm could receive – again distributing more supports to poorer farmers.
“Essentially, we have a Donegal Minister fighting against the interests of Donegal farmers. It is unheard of,” he said.
“The Irish Minister for Agriculture is delaying agreement on the CAP because he wants the flexibility to not implement these measures that will benefit our county and would bring much needed fairness to the CAP system. In opposition, the Minister demanded continued convergence during the transition period. In power he has stalled the entire CAP process in order to stop it. In my position as Sinn Féin whip, I have called on Minister McConalogue to come before the Dáil next week so that he can explain his position to the people of Donegal”.
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