Robert O'Donoghue: Protect CAP and Secure Food Supply

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue. Tánaiste, the EU Presidency gives Ireland the opportunity to set the agenda, to lead discussions, to influence decisions that are going to be felt across Europe and Ireland across the coming years. We should use that opportunity ambitiously. Over the next six months there will be hundreds of meetings, countless headlines, but for the families who are struggling with the cost of living crisis here, with issues like childcare and accessing it, none of this will matter unless we can deliver results that work for them. The government has identified priorities including strengthening competitiveness, enlargement, security and delivering an EU budget, and the decisions that are taken over the coming months will shape Ireland and Europe for years to come. A major objective is advancing EU enlargement and President Zelensky coming yesterday is an underscore of that. Ireland strongly supports, rightly, Ukrainian membership, however enlargement must also be accompanied by reform. We must streamline how the EU institutions make their decisions. We have repeatedly seen how a single veto can paralyse the European Union. If Europe is to become larger it must also become more effective and make decisions faster. However, perhaps the most important challenge that you as a government will face is the multi-annual financial framework. There are growing demands to increase funding for security, research, competitiveness, all of which is understandable. But with that comes pressure to divert funding from agriculture and cohesion which Ireland has often pulled from. As a net contributor, a significant net contributor, Ireland has influence here. We must use that influence wisely. The government must insist that new priorities are funded through new EU revenues, not through cuts to the common agricultural policy. Ireland must place food security firmly on the agenda. This means protecting agricultural land, supporting family farms and ensuring Europe remains capable of feeding itself. Food security is no longer a future issue. This summer Europe is once again experiencing prolonged droughts and extreme weather events, damaging harvests and reducing outputs. Europe can't allow itself to become increasingly dependent on imports of food while simultaneously reducing its own capacity for production. Ireland must firmly stand against attempts to weaken the cap and undermine investment to protect Ireland and Europe's long-term food security. I have three questions. Will Ireland support institutional reform of the EU to ensure that decisions on issues like Palestine, like enlargement of the EU bloc, can happen quickly? Do you support the EU having new revenue sources to fund new priorities? Will you ensure that the next EU budget continues to fund food security? Will the cap be protected? Thanks very much to W O'Donoghue for the question. Let me assure him and the people of this country that whilst the government is very pleased that Ireland has the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next six months, we do take seriously your point as well in relation to the domestic agenda. I suppose I'd make two points. One, governments have to do more than one thing at a time and there's 97 days until the budget, if anyone's counting. We're continuing to work on a budget that will address many of those cost of living issues that you highlight, a personal income tax package, childcare and structurally how we can make progress on issues that concern your constituents and mine as well. Just the second point I'd make on that is, obviously the work, and in fairness you've acknowledged this, the work at a European level isn't decoupled from the important impact to our own citizens. We are of Europe, we are in Europe, we are at the heart of Europe and therefore having a successful Presidency on issues like competitiveness, on issues like budgetary matters will have an important and positive impact on people in this country as well. On the multi-annual financial framework, it is a commitment of the European Council that Europe would seek to agree its multi-annual budget from 2028 onwards before the end of this year. I think that's an important thing to do. At a time when there's a lot of uncertainty in the world, you've got to look at what certainty you can bring to the world and the European Union, it's entirely within our gift to agree a budget, so why not do that? Why not provide that certainty to your citizens, to your businesses, to those who wish to invest when there's so much uncertainty in the world? So Ireland's job will be to intensively engage with Member States as an honest broker, to hear the views and to ultimately publish a negotiating box, a new compromise proposal if you like, towards the end of September, more likely the start of October. At that point that gets sent to the European Council and it falls to President Antonio Costa to work with European leaders to seek an agreement. There are different views in relation to the budget, there will be some Member States who think the current proposed size is too large, some think it's too small. There will be many countries, not too dissimilar to a domestic budget, everyone has ideas of new things to spend money on, it's often harder to find agreement on how to fund those things. There's obviously a need to continue to fund the programmes that are so important, like CAP, like social cohesion funds and also there's a new world we're living in, in terms of defence, security, the green transition, the digital transition as well. Ireland's job, and it's not easy, is to try and find a balance amongst all of those things. On the issue of institutional reform, I think Ireland is always open to exploring ways in which the Union doesn't have to work at the pace of the slowest Member State, but at the same time our diversity is our strength and we've got to operate within the treaties, so we're always willing to have those conversations. On the issue of new money for new initiatives, which I think is a fair point, we've been tasked by the President of the European Council as the new Presidency to look at the issue of owned resources. To be honest about this, any issue around owned resources has to, one, be something that can pass the European Council, and two, has to be something that's deliverable in terms of real impact by 2028, so I don't underestimate the significance of that. And thirdly, issues around, we have to act as an honest broker, so not prejudicing the budgetary process, but obviously issues like food security, agri-food, protecting the agricultural sector, not just in Ireland but right across the European Union, are core vital issues for any MFF. Thank you, Donal, I know and you know that Europe works by consensus and there is only so much we can do to facilitate as an honest broker, I accept that. I will note that competitiveness while incredibly important with the Capital Union 28th regime coming forward, workers' rights wasn't mentioned once yesterday at the event in Dublin Castle. This gives us an opportunity to bring the Irish people with us. Rather than this Presidency just being felt within the bubble of Leinster House, people outside these walls, I don't know if they understand the importance or understand how this is going to directly affect them, so I'll ask you again, and I know it's on a national level rather than a supranational level, what concrete milestones does the government have in mind to achieve in the six months that we have the Presidency that will benefit Irish people outside of the walls of Leinster House? Very fair question, and often while Europe can seem something remote, I think it's all our collective jobs to do as you say and to bring it home in terms of the real impact that it makes. I think workers' rights was mentioned yesterday, but if it wasn't it should have been, because it is very much a core part of competitiveness, because as we make our economies more competitive, as we grow our wealth, we can't do that without obviously the workers who run the industries and deliver that productivity. I think there's a whole load of areas where Irish people can expect to see benefit. I'll give you one, the whole issue of online safety for children is a core concern for parents right across this country, right across this union I'd argue, very clear commitment in our Presidency priorities to make progress on that. We've always been of the view that it's most impactful if it can happen at an EU level, if it can't we reserve the right to take our own action here, but I think listening to the comments of President von der Leyen there was a real chance we could make progress on that during the Irish Presidency. In terms of providing access to funding and investment for Irish businesses, for Irish SMEs, getting an agreement on savings and investment union on deepening our capital markets union will benefit Irish businesses and of course reaching an agreement on MFF will provide certainties for farmers, for fishers as well. There's many, many more examples too, but I do want people to know, and I think we should look, and this House continues to reflect during this six month period on making the work being done at that Presidency level relevant to the people that it certainly is.