Results 8,921-8,940 of 23,978 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes, but there is nothing more we could do to affect that other than to make it as practicable as possible for farmers to continue. We could not do a new scheme for them. It would be much more practical for those who were in GLAS, for example, to continue on GLAS and to continue with the measures they had than it would be to do a new scheme. I do not think doing a new scheme would...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: That is less of a challenge for a one-year scheme than for a five-year scheme. Farmers only had to opt to extend it for one year. The approach taken was to try to maximise the opportunity for as many farmers as possible.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Without a doubt, we did not plant as much forestry last year as we would have liked to have seen. The committee is well aware, because this is something on which it has put a very strong focus, of the challenges we had with licensing and which, over the course of the past year, we have been working our way out of. Thankfully, we are gathering momentum and making a real impact and we will...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: About 550 afforestation licences were granted.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The actual amount planted was 2,400 ha.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: As for afforestation, every felling licence that is granted comes with a reforestation licence. Where somebody clear-fells a site, the obligation is on him or her to replant that within two years. A new afforestation licence is valid for three years. The licensee has to plant the site within three years. Last year's output of afforestation licences was not as successful as, for example,...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes. It was €25 million initially.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I have increased it this year. I think it is €19.5 million in 2022-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: No. It is less than what it was projected to be back in 2016 and 2017. What was projected at that stage was potentially up to €25 million. That was then subject to demand, so I think the level of uptake was €16 million or €17 million. As with all the other schemes that are in place and the outgoing CAP, until we have entered the new CAP in 2023, the only option...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: There were 505 afforestation licences-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes, that is what is indicated by what the Deputy has there. I was working from memory of a briefing I had in the last couple of days, which was to the effect that the 550 licences amounted to just over 8,000 ha. That table clearly indicates the figures the Deputy has given.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes. The 8,000 ha is our target. Our plan for 2022 is to double the number of afforestation licences issued. At the start of the year, given our level of ambition, we are profiling the level of funding that would meet that ambition. As the year evolves, we will closely monitor and, depending on the drawdown, adjust it.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Okay. The Deputy is correct on those figures. Do we have an answer as to that €28 million difference in the output targets for 2021 and 2022? We will check that. The 2020 outturn is the same as the 2022 output target. 2021 was the first year of the new seven-year programme; 2022 will be the second year of it. There was an adjustment in the basic payment-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I do not think so. It is basic payments and greening so there would be a slight reduction in overall Pillar 1 as we move from the previous seven-year period, which ran from 2014 to the end of 2020. There was a small 1% to 2% drop in Pillar 1 payments at the start of 2021. That will stay constant until the start of 2027. Pilar 2 went up but Pillar 1 dropped slightly. That adjustment...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Great progress has been made in the last two, three or four years on the uptake of LESS. We have 3,500 LESS spreaders and machines in the country and there has been about €100 million of drawdown from TAMS to support that. I take the point the Deputy is making. From my recollection, under the CAP there is a restriction on business or contractors being able to avail of it as opposed...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I will look at it further. I understand where the Deputy is coming from. We have to push on and try to assist that transition. The Deputy is right that much of the slurry will be spread by contractors. They will play an important role and we want as much use of LESS as possible because it makes financial sense from a farmer's point of view every year, this year more than ever. It makes...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Will the Deputy repeat what he said on the-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: It was a projection at the outset on the expected level of demand. What we are now projecting for next year is representative of what we feel is likely to be the demand. For the number of consignments of live animals and products inspected at border inspection posts, 75,000 is projected for next year. We had projected for last year that it might be up to 500,000. It has been less than...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: We have been working hard to try to improve the uptake of organics and the appetite has been increasing among farmers for the organic scheme. In terms of the next CAP programme, we have increased the funding for organics fivefold. It is something we intend to drive on very significantly at Government level and to make real progress on over the next years. The message I have for many...