From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD, today announced an additional town hall webinar date for Tuesday 10th August as part of a public consultation on the draft interventions proposed for the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan. The consultation was launched on 30th July, and will run for a four-week period, to 27th August. The additional date will provide a further opportunity for stakeholders to participate in the process. A new modelling paper on the direct payments is now available on www,gov.ie/cap
Minister McConalogue noted:
“I have consistently said that I would consult widely to hear the views of all stakeholders in order to fully inform my decisions on, for example, redistribution of direct payments, capping and convergence of direct payments, and on how best to achieve the economic, environmental and social objectives of the CAP. The latest modelling paper will provide stakeholders with information on the impact of some of the possible changes in direct payments to farmers. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to hear more about the modelling at the three virtual townhall meetings on the 10, 11 and 12 of August. There will be an opportunity to ask questions on the night, or to submit them in advance. In addition, written submissions can be made to my Department by post or email until 27th August. There is also an opportunity to complete an online survey.”
He encouraged all stakeholders to engage in the process
“I am keen to hear the views of all stakeholders and the additional townhall event on Tuesday next week will provide an alternative date for stakeholders to participate in these discussions.”
Written submissions should be made to CAPStrategicPlan@agriculture.gov.ie
or by post to:
CAP Rural Development Division,
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street,
Dublin
D02 WK12
Submissions should be marked: ‘draft interventions for CAP Strategic Plan’
A recording of the webinar along with the presentation will be made available on the Department’s website soon after the event.
Note for editors
Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) for the period 2023-2027 will underpin the sustainable development of Ireland’s farming and food sector by supporting viable farm incomes and enhancing competitiveness, by strengthening the socio-economic fabric of rural areas, and by contributing to the achievement of environmental and climate objectives at national and EU levels.
The new CSP will represent a change in the approach to CAP planning and implementation compared to previous programming periods. Instead of the familiar compliance-based approach followed previously, a new performance-based approach will be adopted. This will be underpinned by a ‘New Delivery Model’, under which Member States’ performance will be judged on outputs and results, and on how their CSPs contribute to CAP objectives at EU level. The CSP will also take a more holistic approach, incorporating interventions under both Pillar I (Direct Payments and Sectoral Interventions) and Pillar II (Rural Development) into one overall plan.
The launch of the public consultation on the draft interventions for the CAP Strategic Plan is a very important next step in the development of Ireland’s Plan. The draft interventions outlined were developed based on stakeholder input, as well as on the preparatory work undertaken by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (in particular, the work undertaken on the SWOT analysis and Needs Assessment required under the CAP Strategic Plan Regulation), in consultation with other relevant Departments and agencies.
To ensure that maximum stakeholder input is received at this stage of the CSP design process, there are two strands to the consultation, as follows:
a. written submissions, which are invited from interested parties by the closing date of 27 August with an option to do so through an online survey EUSurvey - Survey (europa.eu)
b. virtual townhall meetings, which will take place on 10, 11 and 12 August at 7pm.
Virtual townhall meetings will be conducted via Webinar. Further details on these will be available www.gov.ie/cap
The responses received through the public consultation will be reflected in a draft version of the overall CAP Strategic Plan that will be submitted to external evaluators in early September. Following completion of their work, an updated plan will be made available for further public consultation in October/November. The final plan will be submitted for Government approval in December before submission to the EU Commission by the deadline of 1st January 2022. The EU Commission has 6/8 months to approve the plan. The CAP Strategic Plan will commence on 1 January 2023.