An Irish MEP has presented what he has described as a nine-point 'family farm reform plan' to the European Commissioner for Agriculture.

Midlands--North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly said he wrote to Commissioner Christophe Hansen setting out "concrete proposals" to reduce bureaucracy and "restore fairness for farmers".

The MEP also called on Commissioner Hansen to honour commitments to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and to ease the burden on Irish and European farmers.

Mullooly credited the commissioner for his "openness to dialogue", but added that "the disillusionment and frustration felt by farm families across Europe...has not abated".

The Independent Ireland MEP called for "urgent and realistic" reforms to ensure the viability and sustainability of family farming.

According to Mullooly, his letter to the commissioner cited the latter's "personal commitment" to "review, reduce and eliminate unnecessary red tape that is hindering the viability and sustainability of family farming".

He called on Commissioner Hansen to "act on the commitments...and ensure that the CAP serves the people it was designed to support".

The MEP said: "At a critical moment for European agriculture, I am calling on Commissioner Hansen to focus on the real needs of farm families and to deliver the smart, efficient reforms that will keep family farming at the heart of European rural life."

The nine points Mullooly set out in his letter includes an increase in the inspection threshold within the next five years, so that farms under 30ha are relieved from "disproportionate compliance burdens".

Mullooly is also calling for an end to cross-reporting, saying that CAP funds "should not be used to carry out compliance work for other regulatory bodies".

"Issues already adjudicated by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) should not require further involvement from the Department of Agriculture [Food, and the Marine]," the MEP said.

The third point outlined by Mullooly is the need for a single mapping system, where a unified farmland mapping system is used for both CAP Pillar I and Pillar II schemes. He said the current duplication "leads to unnecessary delays, administrative burdens, and confusion".

The MEP is also calling for the elimination of "redundant inspections", telling Commissioner Hansen that where a farmer has been inspected and found compliant, further inspections should not be required unless circumstances have materially changed.

The remainder of the nine points outlined by Mullooly are as follows:

No double penalties, where CAP funding penalties are not applied if a farmer is already penalised by another state agency;
Clarification of agency responsibilities, so that CAP inspections do not overlap with responsibilities of other bodies, such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS);
Reforming young farmer payments to encourage new entrants into farming;
'Consistent messaging' to farmers so that communication is "clear and predictable";
No retroactive rule change, so that, once a scheme or regulation has commenced, no new rule change is "introduced midstream".