Results 4,281-4,300 of 8,194 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this Bill. Over the past number of months, I have heard the Minister, Deputy Ryan, talk about the number of houses that will be retrofitted over the next decade and what we can do, especially for older people. Today is Thursday. Earlier this week, I saw two letters issued by Roscommon County Council to elderly people regarding grant...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I welcome the witnesses. My first question is for Mr. Lumley. I have a few quick, short questions for him. He talked about reclamation and draining soils. Some 44,000 farmers in Ireland make their living, be it sheep or suckler farming with some of them dairy farming in the likes of Listowel and places like that, from peaty soils that have been drained, for which the EU actually gave them...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Hold on. If the land into which farmers put shores - that is how reclamation is done - is where the cattle and sheep are farmed and if Mr. Lumley is saying that should not be allowed but that it should be let go wild, then how are they going to farm? This is a very simple question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am not just talking about uplands. I am talking about lowlands. There was raised bog that was cut away in Listowel, Galway, Tipperary, in any county in Ireland, and the farmers are now farming the land. They have shored the land whereby one puts in chips and does work on it. If An Taisce is saying to them now that they cannot farm that land - they may be struggling at the moment but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: No, I want your solution to how they can live.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Hold on. Let us go back over this issue. This is a thing that is being thrown out at the moment. The reality is that a farm of 40, 50 or 60 acres is not viable but a person might have an off-farm job, as well as the farm, that keeps him or her viable. No more than when Bord na Móna workers who worked in Bord na Móna and had a bit of farming were viable. When one is gone,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have a second question. On my way to Dublin, I was thinking about the likes of An Taisce. We have seen An Taisce object to quarries. We need quarries for building houses, be it in Dublin or other areas. The witnesses would know property in Dublin fairly well. We need it for building sheds for farmers. On the issue of water quality, people deserve water. An Taisce objected to Lough...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Will the witnesses answer the question Deputy Carthy asked earlier? We are now bringing in peat for the mushroom industry from another country. We are bringing in peat briquettes. Do they agree with that or do they believe the mushroom industry should be wiped out? Which is it? One cannot have both sides of this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: It is at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Tell me which do the witnesses agree with?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: There is at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The problem is for the farmer who is farming on marginal land who got a contractor to drain that land 20, 30 or 40 years ago. He is trying to make a living on that land with sheep. It is generally sheep because it would not be strong enough for cattle. I ask the witnesses to give it to me in the bread and butter terms. What sort of an Ireland do they think it should be, in terms of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Can I just finish Mr. Lumley? If I want to think of the next generation and my young son or daughter, I have to clean the drain on the margin of land we have been given to live and work on. I cannot make the Golden Vale out of it. We have to work that land to keep the next generation there and to hand on that torch. That generation will not be kept there by not cleaning the drain and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (28 Apr 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 261. To ask the Minister for Finance if persons who are almost or wholly without the use of a single arm and hand are eligible to apply for the disabled drivers and passengers scheme under subsections 92(1)(i) and (ii) of the Finance Act 1989; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21227/21]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (28 Apr 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 262. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of successful applicants to the disabled drivers and passengers scheme who were almost or wholly without the use of a single arm and hand in each of the past five years; the number of those who were almost or wholly without the use of a single foot and leg; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21228/21]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (28 Apr 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 263. To ask the Minister for Finance the amendments that will be made to the Finance Act 1989 in relation to the disabled drivers and passengers scheme given the Supreme Court ruling in a case (details supplied); the way the potential for discrimination in the qualifying conditions of the scheme will be addressed in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21229/21]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (28 Apr 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 264. To ask the Minister for Finance the supports available for those with a single amputated arm and hand who do not qualify under the disabled drivers and passengers scheme despite having to purchase automatic cars to cater to their disability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21230/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (28 Apr 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 600. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 922 of 21 March 2021, when a school (details supplied) will be notified of a decision in respect of its application submitted to Bus Éireann in October 2020 and subject to approval by her Department for a new bus service to cover the route of Carra to Bulluan, County Galway which is currently not...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Grants (28 Apr 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 1108. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 2004 of 24 March 2021, the number of hectares issued in financial approvals by the Forestry Service from 1 January to 31 December 2020, on form 1As; the number of hectares that were planted from the financial approvals issued during the same timeframe; and if he will make a statement on the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (28 Apr 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 1109. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 2005 of 24 March 2021, if the Forestry Service inspectorate has any authority outside that outlined on the maps issued; if the inspectorate has any authority over land that is not forestry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21145/21]