Results 12,981-13,000 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Is the delegation saying it wishes to carry out a plan, agreed with the NPWS, to protect the hen harrier based on payment on a flat-rate basis per hectare and on all hectares equally? The next issue I am curious about, but in respect of which we do not have the relevant witnesses present, concerns how long a programme would have to be to ensure the hen harrier's protection and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is very unusual if that were so. I have seen hundreds of these but they always say that any compensation payable was only for a curtailment of current practice. For example, 80% of Connemara is designated so I have seen many hundreds of these but not for anything for which planning permission is required or for which a grant is payable. It is the State's prerogative to refuse a grant....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: It was not based on current activity because it normally was that only if it curtailed current activity would they compensate the farmer. It was nothing to do with development because they always believed it was their right, under notifiable actions. In every other SAC sheet I have ever seen - I have seen a lot of them - the whole issue centred on whether they curtailed what the farmer was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Let me put it another way. Did the discussions with any of the wildlife organisations give any indication of how long they think it will take for the hen harrier to recover? Did the witnesses ever discuss that with them? We will have to try to get that information.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is actual losses from current practice.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We need clarification. If we want to succeed, we have to look at what was said and what can be compensated. "Actual losses" is taken to mean those which interfere with current practice, not potential losses. Forestry and wind - anything requiring planning permission - are seen as potential losses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: What I would like the Department to look at is payment for actions done. That was what the previous scheme was; it was technical, not based on compensation. It is absolutely given that they want to save the hen harrier. The farmer does certain actions and gets paid. Everyone wins - BirdWatch Ireland, the Department and the farmers. The second idea that makes a lot of sense to me and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Forestry is not profitable unless there is a grant available for it. We accept the principle that there is a public interest in growing trees because of all of the benefits. I agree strongly that the preservation of the hen harrier is in the public good. Therefore, if the Department wants farmers to farm in such a way, as happens in forestry, why not pay them to do so? It is a slightly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: They are included in ANCs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The word "constraint" is very different from "disadvantaged". The measure should be the constraints on land; therefore, the payment should increase accordingly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Special Protection Areas Designation: Irish Farmers with Designated Land (21 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Chairman is not waiting until we return.

Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There are a sufficient number of ports on the east coast. I do not know why we did not get it.

Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is because we did not put money into it.

Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We did not.

Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Shannon is in State ownership.

Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am delighted the Minister of State is present. I can only imagine, if he were on this side of the House, how he would be on his high horse about the neglect of the west and a policy designed to keep it in its place and small.

Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: May I continue, without interruption?

Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I can hear the Minister of State's voice rising to castigate the Government for a policy that would leave us with no national port between Foynes and Derry. Given the length of the coastline, one must ask how we could leave the area without a national port. As Google Maps, a fantastic facility, shows, Foynes is closer to Cork than to Galway. Therefore, the argument that it is close to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Leader Programmes Applications (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I would not accuse anybody of deliberately slowing it down, but if one begins from a standing start it could take six months to develop a plan. If this happens, they will have to wait. The Minister of State mentioned County Galway and I did not, but I will take her up on it. If there were two bidders in County Galway each would have to submit a plan for the entirety of County Galway and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Leader Programmes Applications (16 Jul 2015)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Is it correct that they must cover the entire area?