Results 3,661-3,680 of 10,843 for speaker:Matt Carthy
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: -----precluded it from doing so. Who are we seeking clarification from in respect of the new state aid rules as to whether or not Coillte can avail? Do I take it from the fact the Minister is discussing these issues with Coillte before asking the Commission that it is the Department's view that Coillte can actually draw these down?
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: I am sorry for being persistent on this. The question that must be asked and answered is whether or not Coillte can directly draw down grants and premiums that it was previously precluded from doing so as a result of the state aid rules? The state aid rules changed on 1 January after a very lengthy consultation process. Has anybody asked for independent advice or have we asked the...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: Okay.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: Is it the Minister's view that another shareholder letter of expectation will issue?
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: At this point the official guidance Coillte has as to how it conducts its work is based on the three letters of expectation it has received to date, including the one in June 2022.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: I know but the Minister is still not answering the question.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: I know but Coillte will tell us it is operating within the shareholder letter of expectation. Finally on forestry, does the target afforestation rate for 2023 still stand at 8,000 ha?
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: Does the Minister believe it will be reached?
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: However new applications cannot be submitted for them at this point.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: That is 60% in any given year, however. Those 7,000 ha, some of which go back several years-----
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: If we had a dashboard, would we be able to find out ourselves-----
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: Perhaps the Minister will follow up on that issue as well. The weekly dashboards were incredibly useful. There were a number of broad policy issues I intended to address but I will confine-----
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: That was new planting.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: Okay. On the basis of our previous conversations, I take it that it was all private and none of it was Coillte.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: In fairness, it says a lot that so many members of the committee are aghast that the figure might not be true. That is precisely what we need to be planting in January. In fact, we need to be planting double that in January if we want to reach 8,000 ha per year.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: I will move to financial questions, as I am sure the Chair is glad to hear. As regards the sheep welfare scheme, notwithstanding the fact I agree with other members that we need to go much further than the €12 increase, that €12 represents a 20% increase but the allocation has only been increased by 11%. Is that because it was undersubscribed for last year or is it expected...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: The figure for the previous year is 17,700.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: Assuming people will keep the same number of sheep or increase their number, the allocation will need to be revised.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: Okay. Does the Minister have plans to review the payment rates and budget allocation for the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme? As he is aware, it is one of the more important and popular schemes among farmers, particularly in areas such as his county or mine. Essentially, however, it is reducing every year because inflation is eating into it. It has been the same, broadly...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023) Matt Carthy: I do not have time to rehash the issue of Pillar 2 payments and the increase in co-financing. In overall terms, farmers will be looking at the payments that are most valuable and important to them, and the ANC is one such payment. It has remained static for the past four years. There was previously a domestic decision to increase the budget allocation to it but, under the Minister's...