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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., has today announced the opening of a public consultation on the draft scoping report for the Environmental Assessment of the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

Commenting on the announcement, the Minister said, "I am very pleased to launch this public consultation on an important aspect of the development of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027. In addition to consulting with the designated environmental authorities, my Department is conducting a wider non-statutory public consultation to encourage stakeholder engagement and help inform the environmental assessment of the CAP Strategic Plan. I look forward to a full engagement by the relevant bodies and by stakeholders in this process. This is a crucial aspect of forming the next CAP so I am encouraging people to come forward with their views on this."

Scoping is the process of determining the range and level of detail of the environmental issues to be considered for the environmental assessment of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

Full details of the consultation are available at gov.ie - Public Consultation on the draft Scoping Report for the Environmental Impact Assessment (www.gov.ie)

The consultation will remain open until Tuesday, the 13 April 2021.

Notes to the Editor:

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is currently developing Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan for the period 2023 -2027 (CSP). This work is based on the Commissions draft proposal [COM(2018)392] for a Regulation establishing rules on support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP Strategic Plans) and financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The draft EU regulations are available on the Commission’s website at eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2018%3A392%3AFIN

As an important part of the development of the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, the Department has procured RSM Ireland Limited to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the likely significant effects on the environment of implementing the Plan.

The environmental assessment will be carried out in accordance with EU Directive 2001/42/EC and the European Communities (Environmental Assessment of Certain Plans and Programmes) Regulations 2004 ( SI 435 of 2004 ).

Prior to making a decision on the scope and level of detail of the information to be included in the environmental report, and in addition to consulting with the environmental authorities, a parallel wider non-statutory public consultation to encourage further participation by stakeholders and the public is being undertaken to help inform the environmental assessment of the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.