Results 881-900 of 4,825 for speaker:Martin Heydon

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: No, there is not. I do not accept the Deputy's underlying premise. He threw in a comment around GAEC 2 there as well. I am just making the point that European - and I will answer the specific point made by the Deputy - food security is not about every individual country producing all the food themselves. That is not food security. We are the second-most food secure nation in the world....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: Regarding the point about contingency measures and the work we are doing in this regard, I am not giving up. There is an element of throwing in the towel in some of what the Deputy is saying.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: I take great heart when I look at a country like Poland, which is on the flank of Russia and facing such major problems. That country's minister for agriculture is, like us, strongly advocating for the need for a fully-funded CAP with the old structure. I am not, therefore, giving up on that and I am continuing to fight very hard. I work with-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: I am sorry, but I will not be able to come back. I was supposed to have been here until 6 p.m. I do not mind finishing, but I cannot come back I am afraid. I should have been gone 15 minutes ago.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: Let us just not miss the vote.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: Yes, I will provide a written response to that question. It is probably the best approach because we are out of time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: I will ensure the Deputy gets detailed responses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The AGRIFISH Council meets once a month. It is probably the most intense Council meeting along with ECOFIN. There are few Irish Ministers who have to go out there every month. I do not miss an opportunity to engage and get to know the officials. There are people in the cabinet of Commissioner Hansen and others who I knew previously in different roles. You build those relationships and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: International Protection (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: My Department launched a new €1.3bn Forestry Programme in 2023 with an annual budget that can facilitate the planting of up to 8,000ha of new forests annually. The Afforestation Scheme, within the new Forestry Programme, offers landowners a choice of 12 Forest Types, covering a broad range of planting options. These include, for example, Native Woodland, Continuous Cover Forestry and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Burren Scheme, funded by my Department under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2022, with additional support from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, was an agri-environmental results-based scheme devised to improve the condition of the natural and cultural heritage of the Burren. Farmers received payments to undertake actions focussed on habitat management for biodiversity, as...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Biodiversity Regeneration In a Dairying Environment (BRIDE) Project, funded by my Department under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2022, implemented a results-based approach on intensive farms in the River Bride valley of north County Cork aimed at conserving, enhancing and restoring habitats. Working in collaboration with farmers, the project identified priority actions to improve...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The objective of the Beef Welfare Scheme 2024 is to further increase the economic efficiency of and enhance animal health and husbandry on suckler farms. Payments in the amount of €19.98 million issued to some 23,132 Beef Welfare Scheme 2024 participants eligible for payment in early December 2024. Those not eligible for payment included participants who had not submitted a BISS...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) aims to provide support to beef farmers to improve the environmental sustainability of the national beef herd. The programme aims to build on the gains delivered in recent years through the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme (BEEP) by improving the genetic merit of the Irish suckler herd. ...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: My Department provides significant support to the beef sector under the EU co-funded Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) which is complemented by the exchequer-funded 2025 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS). In April, I announced that 2025 BWS will open for applications in early August. This new support scheme has a budget of €28m and will focus on practical measures to enhance...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Areas of Natural Constraints scheme provides payments to people farming land in designated areas that face significant hardships from factors such as remoteness, difficult topography, climatic problems, and poor soil conditions. Support is provided based on the following categories of land: Category 1 land: The system of farming prevalent in Category 1 is characterised by extensive...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Tillage Incentive Scheme (TIS) was an emergency support Measure introduced following the war in the Ukraine. The aim of the scheme was to incentivise farmers to increase the eligible tillage crop area in order to assist in reducing the dependency on imported feed material. In 2024, a maintenance payment was available to those, who having converted area to tillage in 2023, and were...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) provides support to sheep farmers for carrying out actions that improve animal health and welfare in the sheep sector. To date €18.5 million has been paid to 16,714 herds under SIS 2024 (Year 2). These payments were paid at a rate of 85%. The balancing payments of 15% for 2024 will commence shortly to cleared cases. To date €15.20 million...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: My Department provides significant support to the sheep sector under the EU co-funded Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) and through the exchequer-funded 2025 National Sheep Welfare Scheme. The SIS is the principal dedicated support for the sector with an allocation of €100m over the duration of the current CAP Strategic Plan (CSP). This multi-annual scheme will operate until 2027 and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: I propose to take Questions Nos. 332 and 333 together. I recognise that the recent storms Darragh and Éowyn have caused varying degrees of damage around the country, including significant damage to trees and that this presents challenges to all stakeholders in forestry. Alongside Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae, I set up a Forest Windblow Taskforce with stakeholders from...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Expenditure (28 May 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine issued €19 million in payments to the Irish horticulture sector in 2024 through a range of schemes, including the Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector, the EU Producer Organisation Scheme for the Fruit and Vegetable Sector, the Schemes of Investment Aid for Innovation and Diversification in...