Results 181-200 of 766 for speaker:Pippa Hackett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Deputy. While everything is not perfect, there have been improvements to which my colleague, Mr. Collins, has alluded. Many of those improvements have been conducted in parallel with Project Woodland. We have not waited for anything to come from the project before those improvements take place and they have taken place over the past number of months in terms of improving how we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I am not aware that groups and representatives on my forestry policy group are being ignored. I would appreciate it if the Deputy would follow up in that regard and I will look into the matter. I have had positive engagement from the chairs of the groups who have been working incredibly hard, as have the members of the groups, to keep the collaboration and engagement going. I would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I will return to the piece around the future policy of the forestry sector to which the Deputy referred earlier. That will be a decision of the citizens of this State. We are going to consult widely. The Department will roll out that policy but Department officials do not write the policy. The role of the Department is to serve the people and the Government of the time. It is unfair to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: It has been ongoing for a number of years because of challenges at EU court level and changes in European decisions. That has forced our hand and required a different way of issuing licences. That has caused the backlog. What we were doing until a couple of years ago was wrong. It was challenged in court and found to be wrong. That has caused a knock-on effect on where we go now. We are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I wish to reassure the Deputy that the system to regulate forestry, whether it is private or public, is exactly the same. Every licence has to deliver on the same requirements. If appropriate assessments are required for either, then both have to do them. There is something of a narrative that Coillte is shown a favourable disposition compared with private operators. That is simply not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: The Deputy referred to the target of 4,500 licences to be issued this year. My officials have assured me that we are going to get there. Despite the slowdown in July caused by the statutory instrument, we will catch up. We were on an upward trajectory towards the end of June. That would have continued. I look forward to seeing that continue and achieving an increased number. In itself...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I suggest the challenges are from other land use sectors. We have seen expansion in the dairy sector in recent years. That puts pressure on. It is easy for a farmer to rent land to a dairy farmer potentially when he knows he will get his land back after five or ten years, if he signs a lease that is long enough. If we put that up against afforesting land for 30 years, it is a decision...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Chair. I will go through his questions in no particular order. I have scribbled notes in front of me. The Chair mentioned premiums for afforestation. That is something to look at in the next programme from 2023 onwards. When we decide what our new forestry strategy will be, it can feed into that. It will be a strategy for the next 50 years. As immediate an issue as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Aug 2021)

Pippa Hackett: The 30 days are there and once the licence is issued, there is a 14-day window for appeals, which was reduced from 28 days because of this situation. The net gain for public participation is still two weeks, since there are six weeks of public participation. Not everyone is satisfied with reducing that appeals window from 28 days to 14 days but in light of what the 30-day public...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Sep 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I congratulate Senator Moynihan on her marriage and wish her and her husband every best wish for the future. I echo Senator Chambers's statement on maternity restrictions and concur with everything she said. It is a real thrill when places we know or are dear to us are recognised. I felt pure joy, as well as a strong sense of pride, when I saw that three midlands towns had made it onto The...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 Sep 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I will follow on from much of Senator Kyne's contribution. Seven months ago, a headline in the Irish Farmers' Journalcarried some bad news. It read, "Fertiliser prices jump on the back of tight supplies". This week, Bloomberg claimed things were getting even worse and that Europe has a fertiliser crisis and prices are spiking. There are some tough times ahead for many of our farmers.Goods...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: Tomorrow marks the UN International Day of Rural Women. I want to mark it by honouring the contribution of women and girls to agriculture and rural community development in Ireland. In agriculture, women have long been referred to as the invisible unpaid workforce on farms and there is plenty of evidence to back this up. NUIG research from a few years ago indicated that women are the sole...

Seanad: Flood Risk Management: Motion (19 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I welcome this motion from my Green Party colleagues and acknowledge the work Senator Garvey has put into it. Quite simply, water is life. When it stays where it should, in proper quantities and at a correct flow rate, it supports life, whether that is ecosystems in soils, on land and in our waterways.When flow rates of water exceed the capacity of the soil, river, stream or drain, flooding...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: Recently, I spoke in the Chamber about an intensive dairy farmer who does not use chemical fertilisers to grow his grass. Describing how he feeds his cows on a multispecies sward, a mix of grasses, clovers and herbs, I said that I hoped I was seeing the future in the way that he and his family were farming. Since then, in budget 2022, my Department has allocated €1 million to pilot a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Wind Energy Generation (21 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I thank Senator Kyne for the opportunity to speak on this matter. The Department owns, operates and maintains, under statute, six designated State-owned fishery harbour centres. These are located at Ros an Mhíl, Castletownbere, Dingle, Dunmore East, Howth and Killybegs. As the Senator stated, the Minister visited Ros an Mhíl fishery harbour centre last week and had the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Wind Energy Generation (21 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: The cross-departmental nature of this project requires that there be cohesion between Departments in how we address it. Clearly, offshore wind generation is a priority for our country in meeting our renewable and decarbonisation targets. That must be kept front and centre in all decisions that are made. I am not aware of the specific details of the project but I will engage with the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Organic Farming (21 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: The current area under organic production is 74,000 ha and we brought in 13,000 ha from last year. Therefore, the total area either in organic or in conversion is 87,000 ha. As I said, an increase of 50,000 ha with the proposed money in the budget for next year would bring the figure to around 130,000 ha, which would represent a 57% increase on this year. In terms of the 7.5% target, it...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Organic Farming (21 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Deputy. He is absolutely right. We do need to bring in large number of farmers because this will create a critical mass and allow for significant engagement, knowledge transfer and peer-to-peer work. I certainly concur with that. With regard to the current design of the scheme, the average farm size in the scheme across the board is in the region of 40 ha. They are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (21 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: The horticulture sector has been largely ignored over the decades in terms of support. That has increased more recently and it is something we have to build on. There is a role for horticulture, particularly now with the need to shorten supply chains. There is a huge import substitution piece that we are not embracing yet, and there is certainly an intent to do that. In budget 2022,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (21 Oct 2021)

Pippa Hackett: The labour issue is going to continue to be a problem, and I ask myself where it will end. We are spiralling towards a race to the bottom and we have to get off that track. That is in supporting local food producers. Many wonderful local food producers operate off a handful of acres, maybe employing five or six people supplying a small town with quite a significant number of horticultural...