Results 6,781-6,800 of 23,975 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: As the Deputy may be aware, the agriculture sector was assigned a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 based on a 2018 baseline of 23MT CO2 eq. This reduction in emissions will contribute to the economy wide reduction of 51% by 2030. It is a challenging and ambitious target but is one that farmers and the industry are committed to achieving. The Climate Action Plan...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Over the past year, significant price rises have occurred primarily in the energy sector with natural gas and oil prices reaching record highs. These price rises have been amplified by the impacts of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and have significant implications across all sectors, including the agri-food sector. Dairy processing is a critical industry both for consumers in...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Basic Payment Scheme and related area-based scheme opened for applications in February 2022. 128,360 applications were received by 16th May deadline, which is in line with the number of applications in previous years. Applications submitted within amendment and late application deadlines brought the total number of applications submitted for 2022 to 128,747. However, the number of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Central Statistics Office (CSO) carry out a census of agriculture every 10 years, with the last census held in 2020. Since the census held in 2010, the total number of farm holdings dropped by 4,823, or 3.4%, from 139,860 to 135,037. The census provides data on the number of family farm holders who regard farming as their 'sole', 'major' or 'subsidiary' occupation. Since the census held...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horticulture Sector (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The working paper, the Deputy refers to, outlined a series of actions to support horticultural growers who are dependent on peat as a growing medium.The aim of these actions is to address the short-term issue of supply, the medium-term issue of future access to peat and also the longer-term issue of replacement with alternatives for all sectors within horticulture, including mushrooms. Short...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is the agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027. It is the successor to the Green Low Carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS) which was available under Ireland’s Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. It is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers, when approved into the Scheme, undertake...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is the agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023 – 2027 and is the successor to the Green Low Carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS) which was available under Ireland’s Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. The EU budget agreement provides a certain level of funding to Ireland over the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Trade Agreements (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: On 16th June 2021, the UK and Australian Governments announced that they had reached a political agreement in principle for a new UK-Australia trade agreement. The agreement has not yet been ratified or entered into force. I note that the agreement provides for significant new market access for Australian goods exports to the UK. This is also the case for the most sensitive agriculture...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: As the Deputy may be aware, the independently compiled wool review was published in July of this year. A main recommendation of the review was the establishment of an independent Wool Council by industry. Once established, this Council will lead the development and promotion of Irish wool domestically and internationally. It will also act as a forum to bring together multiple stakeholders...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Since the first finding of ash dieback disease in Ireland, my Department has provided support totalling over €7 million to owners of ash plantations impacted by ash dieback disease through the ash dieback reconstitution scheme (introduced in 2013) and more recently the Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme (Ash Dieback) introduced in July 2020. The current scheme provides 100%...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I am pleased to advise that this year we have seen considerable improvements in the issuance of forestry licences. To date this year, we have issued 3,914 licences which is 92% of our expected output at this point in the year and there are currently 953 approved afforestation licences with just under 7,000 hectares ready for planting. The backlog has reduced from 6,000 in August 2021, to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Programme for Government ‘Our Shared Future’ contains a commitment to seek to resolve the issue of support for the category of farmers known as Forgotten Farmers. I have asked officials in my Department to examine options to address the issue of forgotten farmers with a view to identifying measures to support this group. I am committed to helping this cohort of farmers and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Unfair Trading Practices Enforcement Authority within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) currently has statutory responsibility for enforcing the Unfair Trading Practices Regulations (S.I. No. 198/2021 – European Union (Unfair Trading Practices in the agricultural and food supply chain) Regulations 2021). This Regulation transposed into Irish law EU...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is the agri-environment climate measure which forms part of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027. ACRES is the third ‘layer' in the Green Architecture model under the new Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers, when approved into the Scheme, undertake certain actions on their...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers, when approved into the Scheme, undertake certain actions on their land for at least five years. ACRES is a well-funded and farmer-friendly scheme that will provide an important income support to farmers while also drive tangible environmental improvements. Those actions have been designed to contribute...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The budgetary provision for my DepartmentiIn 2023 is €2.14 billion, the highest ever level of funding for the Department, and represents an increase of €283m on the 2022 provision, or a 13% increase overall, to support farmers, fishers, and rural and coastal communities. I plan to introduce a new scheme to continue the beef welfare measures which were previously funded under...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Marine Environment (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Government recognises the importance of protecting biodiversity, which is vital to the future of our society, economy, species, and planet. We also appreciate the need to reduce carbon emissions to safeguard the environment. The Programme for Government: Our Shared Futurereflects these ambitions, setting out numerous commitments to safeguard Ireland’s biodiversity and to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fishing Industry (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: As the Deputy will be aware, the available Bluefin Tuna quota is allocated each year to Member States on the basis of relative stability, as established in the late 1990s. At that time, Ireland did not have a track record of commercial fishing for Bluefin Tuna and, accordingly, did not receive a quota allocation. The only way to obtain a share of the EU quota now would involve changing...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) is a support Measure for tillage farmers under Article 28 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17th December 2013 (Agri-environment-climate). The purpose of the Measure is to encourage tillage farmers to increase soil organic carbon levels by chopping and incorporating straw from cereal crops. This will...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Tax Code (25 Oct 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: While primary responsibility for taxation policy is with the Minister for Finance, I continue to work closely with him to ensure that the tax code reflects the Government’s priorities for the agri-food sector and the economy generally. We are aware of the concerns expressed by farm organisations and individual farmers in relation to the inclusion of farmland in the Residential...