Results 20,481-20,500 of 24,049 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I am happy to say that the new forestry programme includes an Environment Report Grant to ensure that applicants and their agents are reasonably reimbursed for the additional costs associated with the required standard and scope of the environmental reports submitted. Environmental reports that are eligible for this grant may include: – A Pre-Screening Report – A Habitat...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 504, 505 and 506 together. Within my Department, the Forestry Inspectorate assessed the technical aspects of forestry licence and scheme applications. Currently within the Forestry Inspectorate there are a total of 65 permanent professional/technical staff, 56 of whom have a role in licencing either directly or by providing support functions. These include...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Supports (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I am pleased to state that the reconstitution scheme for ash dieback is open for applications under the new Forestry Programme 2023 - 2027. This scheme includes the following enhanced features: 100% increase in the site clearance grant rate, from €1,000 to €2,000; Enhanced replanting grant rates under the new Forestry Programme 2023-2027; Those applicants whose sites are still...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Irelands forests provide an important supply of timber for our construction sector. The most recent forecast submitted to my Department estimates that annual roundwood production will increase from around 4 million cubic metres now to nearly 7 million cubic metres by 2035. This significant increase in supply is mainly driven from private forests, grant aided since the 1990s, that are now...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Biochar is primarily used in combination with other fertilising materials before application to soil to increase carbon content which may result in increased plant establishment and growth. The use of biochar is permitted under EU fertiliser legislation. Currently, an EU Commission-led working group comprised of biochar experts across Europe are examining the use of biochar in agriculture....

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Brexit Supports (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Seafood Capital Processing Support Scheme, aimed at supporting industry-led transformative capital investments, has a budget of €45million. Projects approved under schemes funded under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) must be completed and paid before the end of 2023. To date 61 applications, with a total approved applications value of €33.4 million, have been...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Brexit Supports (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Seafood Task Force was established to examine the implications arising from the EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) for the Irish Seafood Sector. The Task Force recommended a number of initiatives that could be taken to provide supports for the development and restructuring of this sector, so as to ensure a profitable and sustainable sector and to identify opportunities for jobs...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Policies (3 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Department does not have a policy that relates solely to the use of artificial intelligence but does have policies in place on the use of technology in the Department, including those that use artificial intelligence. No Departmental functions are assisted by language model-based chatbots such as ChatGPT

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the availability of these significant supports for on-farm investment. It is of importance for farmers throughout the country, particularly in his constituency. The Government and I, as Minister, are committed to delivering on this. The new TAMS 3 commenced in February with the launch of the solar capital investment scheme and then opened up for...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We are trying to sequence this. It cannot all be done in one go. It should be borne in mind that it opened up through a number of months and only closed on 1 July. A record number of applications were made and we have to work through them in the most efficient way possible. We have given authorisation to half of all applicants to go ahead and make their purchase. That relates to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Cathaoirleach and committee members for the invitation to the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and me to come before it to discuss forestry. We are joined by Mr. Paul Savage, assistant secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Mr. Fergus Moore, Mr. Barry Delany and Mr. Seamus Dunne from the Department's forestry management service. It is good to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I want to speak on the wider point on confidence. There is no doubt that in recent years there have been real challenges. The Minister of State, the team and I have worked hard with regard to the licensing backlog. We have made massive progress on it. Undoubtedly it has affected confidence and we acknowledge that. It is why we put so many resources into working through it. It is also...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is the nature of de minimisaid.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: De minimisaid applies in the absence of having state aid approval and there are normally limits.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: If the Deputy looks at what we have done here, there has been a massive step change in terms of the supports available. The key objective here is to support family farms. We want to support the farmers in this country who have the land to adopt some forestry as part of their farming enterprise. The premiums are very attractive and are up by almost two thirds on an annual basis, as well as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: There are restrictions in certain areas. We can only provide licences where it is appropriate to do so and where it stacks up to do so and that does present challenges for people in those areas. However, from the Government's point of view, we have put really strong premiums in place. We are trying to make sure people can get their licences in a timely fashion, which was not the case for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I want to add to that. When both the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and I came into office in early 2020, there was a growing crisis at that stage. Up to then, licences were issuing in a relatively timely manner. The result of that court case, however, meant that the time and resources going into processing each application in hand radically increased. This led to the build-up of a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I will briefly add to that. It is important to acknowledge what the team has done over the past couple of years in getting to this situation in the context where, as a result of a court case, things were changed radically, which led to a massive backlog. That obviously put massive pressure on the industry and all involved in it. It also posed a massive challenge to the team. We have gone...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Just in terms of the figures, if Deputy Healy-Rae looks at private felling licences, this year we received 696 but we issued 1,176. We are issuing a lot more than we have received. We received applications for 750 Coillte felling licences and we issued 1,132. We are more on top of felling licences now. When they come in they are dealt with very promptly and issued. That is coming from a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: In response to Deputy Healy-Rae, the point is that we are putting massive amounts of taxpayers' money into the premiums for forestry and, therefore, we must make sure trees are being planted in areas that serve the public interest well in terms of where the money is being paid to put in forestry. We are paying for the planting of it and we are paying 20 years of premiums to farmers. The...