Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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2503. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will seek to ensure that the next CAP will allow for a front-loaded payment per hectare basic farm payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19419/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Discussions are continuing around the new legislative proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The draft proposals currently include a number of measures which concern redistribution of direct payments, including:

- an overall cap of €100,000;

- degressive reduction of payments above €60,000;

- a complementary redistributive income support scheme, and

- the convergence of payments towards the average payment per hectare.

The mandatory or optional nature of these measures and the finer details of their implementation are still under negotiation. My Department is at present examining these proposals carefully to assess their potential impact on applicants. There are a number of elements involved, and it will be necessary to consider all of these, as well as the way they interact. I continue to engage with the farm organisations on this critically important issue.

The final shape of the CAP regulations, including the redistributive elements, will not be known until agreement has been reached, which is expected in the coming months.