Brendan Smith

Government must ensure the interests of Ireland and our business community are protected during Brexit negotiations.::Government should continue to collaborate with peers in international forums such as the World Economic Forum, EU, the OECD and the WTO as well as bilaterally…

Enhancement of Farm Schemes:::- TAMS on-farm investment support scheme - immediate approval for all farmers who have applied for tranches 1 & 2::- Payments in July for those farmers who have completed works under the part approvals issued earlier in the year::- Beef Data and…

That Ireland gets EU approval to pay 70% advance on the Basic Payment Scheme to help cashflow on farms::That all payments must be made on time in line with deadlines set down in the Charter of Farmers' Rights

That the Department of Social Protection carries out an immediate review of Farm Assist::That this review restores income and child disregards that were abolished in recent budgets which greatly reduced the effectiveness of this scheme in assisting farm families under income…

To prevent any further diminution of competition in the purchase of cattle and sheep

Ensuring that the key issues for Irish Agriculture are central to EU negotitions

That the Government takes a stance at EU level to support the IFA campaign to remove tariffs and duties on EU fertiliser imports.::This would deliver annual savings of €50 - €70m to Irish farmers

That Irish agriculture is not sacrificed in pursuit of trade deals::That the Government takes strong opposition to any concessions on sensitive products, in particular the reintroduction of an offer on beef with Mercosur countries::On TTIP - the Government must insist that the…

To secure a targeted sheep scheme of €25m::To ensure that such a scheme has minimal costs and bureaucracy on farmers

Immediate reopening of the BDGS for new participants::To secure additional funding of €25m to increase suckler cow support

To ensure faster and move efficIent approvals in the TAMS::To ensure that payments are processed to farmers faster on completion of work under the TAMS

That the EU Producer Organisation (PO) funding would be paid to producers for 2014, out as soon as possible::That the exceptional State Aid measure allowing for a provision of short term loans to cater for liquidity gaps in the Dairy, Pigmeat, Fruit & Vegetable Sectors is…

To provide an update on EM Ireland's work to Deputy Brendan Smith in his roles as Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence, as a Member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Association, the Committee on the Implementation of the Good…

Raise awareness of EM Ireland's work programme on the UK's EU referendum

To renew progress towards the 0.7% ODA target in Budget 2017 and the establishment of a cross party initiative which sets out a multiannual strategy for sustaining progress in subsequent budgets