Results 2,921-2,940 of 4,024 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Other Questions: Trade Agreements (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: We were not too bad.

Other Questions: Farm Data (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: 48. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to deal with low farm income in the cattle rearing and sheep farming sectors as outlined in the Teagasc national farm income survey which showed that direct payments make up 113% of income for these farmers; and the way in which he plans to redress this imbalance under the new Common Agricultural Policy arrangements by...

Other Questions: Farm Data (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: The Teagasc national farm income survey indicates sheep farming and cattle rearing is at a low rate for many farmers, which is alarming, particularly with the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, being put in place. Will the Minister give us absolute reassurance that these sectors will be targeted and looked after to ensure imbalances will be taken care of as we move into the future?

Other Questions: Farm Data (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: This is probably a continuation of our previous questions. For very many farmers, the issue is, as the Minister states, 100% of the income comes from those payments. That is the problem. For very many of them, the payments are too low and they are not able to manage. There is an opportunity with CAP to do something about that with basic and direct payments. I suggest there should be...

Other Questions: Farm Data (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: Everywhere.

Other Questions: Farm Data (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: We are on the same page with much of this but the difficulty is we really need to see this opportunity through now. There is a crisis. Deputy Scanlon is correct and there are many farmers in serious trouble. These are mainly the people with suckler cows and sheep who have bad land and no other options. What will they do? We need to do something for them now to ensure the family farm...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: The difficulty is we often hear about armchair farmers and individuals who do not engage in farming, yet receive all of the subsidies. Sometimes there is a view that to try to ensure this will not continue, we have to delineate certain categories. I fear that, with the tiny minority in that category, there is a larger group who would be affected in a negative way. I welcome the Minister's...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: 44. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which basic payments to farmers will be affected under the new CAP arrangements in view of the fact so many farmers are working off-farm in order to sustain their livelihood. [23721/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: This question refers to something we have heard talked about on many occasions recently, namely, the issue of farmers having to be full-time farmers, or at least to get the majority of their income from farming. On many small holdings on marginal land, it is very difficult for people to make a living. The reality is at least one person, if not two people, in the household have to work...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (30 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: I welcome the clarification. I understand it is only a draft that will be seen and that there are negotiations involved. However, we would welcome reassurance from the Minister and his Department that, in those negotiations, everything will be done to ensure that no definition of farmer is introduced which would mean many in the farming community who are on marginal land, and have to depend...

Residential Tenancies (Student Rents, Rights and Protection) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (29 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: We are discussing what happens when children who are seeking to go to college, particularly in Dublin, encounter accommodation problems and their families at home try to pay for that accommodation. We often talk about the presence of free education in our society, but even those who are fortunate enough to receive the maximum SUSI grant cannot afford to send their children to college,...

Order of Business (29 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: There is a firm commitment in the programme for Government to resource our hospitals. Last week, I spoke to a lady who was waiting for almost a month to get a report on an MRI scan before it could be sent to her specialist. The MRI scan was done in the same hospital. It only had to go 100 m up the corridor, yet it took a month to do this because there are not enough radiologists to read...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Different Approaches and New Opportunities in Irish Agriculture: University College Dublin (29 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: The witnesses are all very welcome. I thank them for their presentation. In the context of young people and attracting more of them into the agriculture sector, conversations like this help a lot. A number of issues stand out. First, there is what we already do in the mainstream. Most farming here is dairy, bovine or sheep production. That is the mainstay of Irish agriculture; it is...

Written Answers — Department of Health: General Practitioner Services Provision (29 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: 317. To ask the Minister for Health when the free general practitioner card for persons in receipt of carer's allowance will be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23111/18]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Basic Payment Scheme Data (29 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: 496. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of hectares deemed eligible for basic payments in 2016 and 2017; the average payment per hectare; the amount that was raised through degressivity here in 2015, 2016 and 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23769/18]

Other Questions: Health and Safety (24 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: 6. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to instruct the Health and Safety Authority to conduct a safety audit of the State’s livestock marts in view of the considerable risk to personal safety posed by conditions at many of them. [18213/18]

Other Questions: Health and Safety (24 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: Regarding livestock marts, in County Leitrim we have five such marts and an incident at one of them a few months ago, where a man was seriously injured, rang alarm bells for me. While the marts are very well managed and run, they are very dangerous places with many very stressed cattle and many people who are anxious to look at those cattle and who often put themselves in a dangerous...

Other Questions: Health and Safety (24 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I also raise this issue in the context of insurance problems, an issue which is very live at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform at the moment. There have been huge increases in insurance premiums for marts which is not unrelated to health and safety issues. We need to find a solution in a collaborative...

Other Questions: Health and Safety (24 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: I understand all the dangers in this area. The Minister of State made reference to guidelines issued by the HSA but the authority needs to sit down with all of the mart owners to work out a solution. That solution must then be clearly communicated to farmers, employees and patrons of the marts. Safety must be to the fore. I want to send my best wishes to the man who was hurt recently in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Foreign Direct Investment (24 May 2018)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State. I am aware of and acknowledge that, but much of it is not driven by Government incentive or initiatives. It is driven by the companies themselves who are developing and working. What my party is saying is there needs to be more effort made to help those companies, and particularly the indigenous industries. Brexit is looming and many of our indigenous...