merrion street

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has welcomed the first in the townhall series of meetings 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 first of the meetings took place on Tuesday 10th August and will continue on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th August. The first meeting was well attended with in the region of 700 people participating in proceedings, and an average of around 300 attending at any one time.

The Department welcomes the strong engagement last night and it was great to see such interest in the meeting. These townhall meetings are a key part of the CAP process with farmers able to avail of the opportunity to hear the latest on draft proposals around 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. 

Minister McConalogue has made it a key element of his tenure to consult widely with farmers on the shape of the CAP. These townhalls meetings are another step in that process.

The Department understand the concern from some farmers around the format of the first townhall meeting and it is moving to update the format for the next two meetings where, subject to time pressures, farmers can read out questions they have previously emailed in or through the meeting’s “chat function”. 

Minister McConalogue will also host a further wider public consultation on the draft CAP plan and draft environmental report later in the year.

The mailbox CAPStrategicPlan@Agriculture.gov.ie remains open for written submissions and questions in advance of the webinars.

The next two sessions will be held from 7-9pm on 11th and 12th August. Registration is open now at the following link for these sessions:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/6170809316453714955