Results 2,901-2,920 of 18,450 for speaker:Brendan Smith
- Dairy Sector. (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The Deputy pinpoints the particular difficulties facing the market. Additional quota will be useful. The commodity price and this industry have suffered from cycles. We can suffer problems arising from the currency, which can be in our favour at times and against it at others, while in 2007 there was a drought in New Zealand which reduced production there. The US emerged as an exporter...
- Dairy Sector. (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: In response to Deputy Deasy, the market mechanism measures we discussed previously are European Union wide. Everybody knows the law of supply and demand â if there is over-supply or lack of demand, the producer is, unfortunately, the victim. That is happening with milk production today. We argued within the European Union, with some success, for the retention of aids to private storage,...
- Dairy Sector. (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The Deputy is well aware that we do not set the price. Deputy Crawford and I are from a constituency that has a huge dairy sector as well. People are working extremely hard.
- Dairy Sector. (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: We do not mandate any EU directive, as the Deputy is aware. He was chairman of the European affairs committee and he knowsââ
- Dairy Sector. (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: Directives are implemented European Union wide; they are not mandated by me or by the Department. We must implement them when the decision is made.
- Dairy Sector. (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: Does Deputy Deasy thinkââ
- Written Answers — Food Labelling: Food Labelling (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The Minister for Health & Children has overall responsibility for the general food labelling legislation. Under the general labelling Directive (2000/13/EC), the place of origin of the foodstuff must be given only if its absence might mislead the consumer to a material degree. The European Commission is currently undertaking a major review of all food labelling legislation. In this context...
- Written Answers — Dairy Sector: Dairy Sector (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The dairy sector is facing a period of market volatility across the globe at present resulting from supply/demand disequilibrium in international markets. Having reached record high levels in 2007 and early 2008, dairy product prices and producer prices also peaked in that time. Since then international dairy product prices have fallen back considerably, although the average Irish producer...
- Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The Young Farmers' Installation Scheme and the Early Retirement Scheme were suspended for new applications on 14 October 2008 due to budgetary constraints. Applications for these schemes received in my Department since 14 October 2008 have not been processed.
- Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The sheep sector already benefits significantly from the main schemes operated by my Department. Sheep farmers receive an estimated annual: â¬126 million from the Single Farm Payment, â¬60 million under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme and â¬84 million under REPS. In addition to this support and following the Sheep Strategy Report, a number of other measures have also been put in place to...
- Written Answers — Food Labelling: Food Labelling (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The Minister for Health & Children has overall responsibility for the general food labelling legislation. Under the general labelling Directive (2000/13/EC), the place of origin of the foodstuff must be given only if its absence might mislead the consumer to a material degree. The European Commission is currently undertaking a major review of all food labelling legislation. In this context...
- Written Answers — Animal Diseases: Animal Diseases (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: In general, Ireland's national herd covering all farm species meets very high health standards and very good progress has been made in recent years in dealing with regulated diseases such as BSE and Brucellosis. However, less progress has been made in relation to non- regulated diseases. While the losses to agriculture arising from these latter diseases vary from farm to farm and are not...
- Written Answers — Fishing Quota: Fishing Quota (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The representatives of the polyvalent (multi-purpose) vessels in the Irish fleet sought an increased share of Ireland's mackerel quota for 2009, while the representatives of the Refrigerated Salt Water (RSW) fleet, based in the north-west opposed any increase in the share for the polyvalent vessels. The background to the situation is that the allocation arrangements were last revised in...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: I am keenly aware of the problems encountered by farmers as a consequence of the bad weather, particularly the harvesting of forage and cereal crops in 2008. In recognition of these problems, I wrote to the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Fischer Boel, seeking approval for the early payment of the 2008 Single Payment. My request was for advance payment at a rate of 50%,...
- Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: A good deal of work has been undertaken on drafting the Animal Health and Welfare Bill which gives effect to a number of commitments in the area of animal health and welfare contained in the Programme for Government. In particular, the Bill will amend and consolidate previous legislation to reflect the changed disease status of our animals and update existing legislation, to ensure that the...
- Written Answers — Rural Environment Protection Scheme: Rural Environment Protection Scheme (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The new REPS 4 scheme allows grassland farmers to apply for REPS even if they are operating above the general limit of 170 kgs of organic nitrogen per hectare laid down in the Nitrates Directive, provided that they apply for a nitrates derogation. In 2008, 603 REPS 4 farmers applied for a derogation. I welcome the fact that more intensive farmers are joining REPS, as it means that our most...
- Written Answers — Foreshore Licences: Foreshore Licences (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: Following confirmation by the Valuation Office that it would not be in a position to supply a valuation service in respect of activities on State foreshore, my Department sought approval from the Department of Finance for the use of valuers from the private sector. A number of applications for foreshore consents currently on hand cannot be progressed without valuation. The Department of...
- Written Answers — Common Agricultural Policy: Common Agricultural Policy (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 84 and 89 together. A first policy debate on the future of the CAP after 2013 took place at the informal meeting of Agriculture Ministers in Annecy in September last. In the initial debate, there was general agreement on the global context in which policy thinking must be developed. All the ministers present were concerned about global food security,...
- Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The EU Commission has now brought forward proposals for a new European Fisheries Control system which allows for the application of administrative action or criminal proceedings in conformity with national law. The possibility of introducing administrative sanctions for fisheries offences in Ireland was comprehensively considered, including an examination of practices in other Member States,...
- Written Answers — Aquaculture Licences: Aquaculture Licences (11 Feb 2009)
Brendan Smith: The Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1997, as amended, governs the granting, renewal, amendment or revocation of aquaculture licences. In considering an application for an aquaculture licence, including an application to renew an aquaculture licence, the licensing authority must consider: the potential impacts on safety and navigation, the ecological impacts on wild fisheries, natural habitats,...