Results 4,381-4,400 of 23,957 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: International Agreements (16 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Ireland has an existing sanitary agreement for dairy and related products with Algeria. My Department has made a number of representations to Algeria in relation to market access specifically for Infant Formula and has been in ongoing communication with Infant formula companies. An official Department letter was forwarded to the Algerian government on 1st February, which detailed a...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Supports (16 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The objective of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Suckler (BEEP - S) is to further increase economic and environmental efficiency in the suckler herd through better quality data on herd performance, supporting decision making on farm and support of best practice in welfare management. The person named had not successfully applied for the 2020 Beef Environmental...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sports Funding (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 239 and 247 together. Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is a state body established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001, and is responsible for the overall administration, promotion and development of the horse racing industry. Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ) is a state body, established under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958 chiefly...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: There has been a phenomenal level of demand for the National Liming Programme with 4.5 million tonnes sought by almost 41,000 applicants. To put this in context, the annual tonnage of lime applied nationally in recent years has ranged from 700,000 tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes. This includes applications of lime on those farms ineligible for support under the Programme. The level of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Supports (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I have long supported the cohort of farmers known as the forgotten farmers and I have committed to supporting them who find themselves, in many cases, in this situation through no fault of their own. My Department has developed a preliminary outline of a proposal to provide support to the forgotten farmer group. There are a number of issues to be addressed, for example, the funding...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Turf Cutting (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: ACRES is the €1.5bn Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme and is the central agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023-2027. Participants in ACRES commit to undertake, under their ACRES contract, certain actions for a period of five years. As the Deputy may be aware, there are two approaches within the Scheme: • ACRES Co-operation...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: For Direct Payment support measures, such as the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers, a young farmer is defined as having a maximum age limit of 40, meet the conditions for head of the agricultural holding, and hold the appropriate training and/or skills required.  For young farmer support schemes administered by my Department the appropriate training and/or skills are defined...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 246 together. The new and ambitious €1.3bn Forestry Programme 2023-2027 will replace the previous Forestry Programme of 2014-2020 (extended to 2022) which expired at the end of 2022. My Department has been engaging intensively with the Commission over the last few months. Once State Aid approval that has been received we will be in a position...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has delivered considerable reductions in the backlog of all forestry licences as well as reductions in the time taken to process newer files and last year we had another significant year-on-year increase in the number of licences issued. The overall backlog of licences on hand over four months reduced from 6,000 applications in...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Food Industry (11 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Chinese market represents one of the priority growth markets for Irish agri-food exports. It is worth noting that despite the turbulence of recent years, Irish food and drink exports to China were valued at €722 million in 2022, making this market our sixth largest for agri-food exports. However, the reopening of the Chinese market in recent months following pandemic restrictions...

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes, I propose a couple of consequential amendments on that, but I will be following through on the commitment I gave. I said to Deputy Carthy that if the amendment were to be resubmitted, as I indicated, starting from the word "seek", I would be happy to accept it. The word that has been used is "authorised". The amendment currently states that "the regulator shall be authorised to seek"....

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I have reflected on it. I am not in a position to support it because I believe a risk of ambiguity could arise from it such that it could be interpreted to mean that the scope of the regulator's work covers consumers. A raft of existing legislation deals with business-to-consumer matters and that is not the particular purpose of the Bill, which is to address the relationship between...

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputies for the contributions here today as well. This is something we discussed on Committee Stage and I said I would look at it further. The point was made by Deputy Kerrane on Committee Stage that what is proposed - to call it "the regulator" as opposed to "the rialálaí" - may not comply with Government policy and with section 9D of the Official Languages Act,...

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We cannot just tweak it on the floor.

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I am happy to reflect on the matter further in advance of the Bill going to the Seanad, but I do not think it makes sense to go with "the rialálaí". As I have said, it does comply with Government policy and legislation. I am happy to consider the matter further and to come back on it when the Bill is in the Seanad.

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I see that the Deputy is watering down what he was suggesting before and what everybody else was taking up as his meaning of this, that, hey presto, we were going to put minimum prices into the Bill. That is how everybody took him up.

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I did not see the Deputy correct anybody else. That was what he was trying to sell, that that was what he was proposing. Even Deputy Carthy, who participated in the pre-legislative scrutiny of this whole process, did not propose that. Deputy Carthy now says he will support Deputy McNamara's amendment, but Deputy Carthy did not propose, through the pre-legislative scrutiny, that such a...

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I have explained the position to Deputy McNamara, and Deputy Carthy said Ireland objected to below-cost selling at EU level. We had below-cost selling here in Ireland before. Below-cost selling is different from below-cost buying. The fact that somebody sells something below a certain cost does not mean he or she will give a fair price to the person from whom he or she has bought it. It...

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: No. Not one of the Deputies has given an example of how it would work in Ireland. They are saying we should introduce a set price for set products.

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Not one of the Deputies has given an example of how it would work. Deputy McNamara's amendment suggests that a certain product like Irish beef could only be sold in Irish supermarkets at a price set by the regulator in consultation with Teagasc. That is what the Deputy is asking to happen.