Results 3,601-3,620 of 4,507 for speaker:Pat Deering

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Teagasc 2017 Annual Report: Discussion (11 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: That completes our presentation. I thank Professor Boyle for appearing before the committee. Likewise, I thank him for his invitation to visit Moorepark. It is part of our work schedule, and the good news is that we intend visiting towards the end of January. We will work on that date as we progress but we look forward to the visit. It would be important for our members to see the work...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate (Resumed): Medicinal Products Availability (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this topic. The availability of orphan drugs has come to my attention and has been mentioned many times in this House recently. Orphan drugs are drugs specifically designed to diagnose or prevent life-threatening or chronically debilitating rare diseases. An increasingly common issue in Ireland is that drugs fail to secure reimbursement from the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate (Resumed): Medicinal Products Availability (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I welcome the initiatives commenced this year, in particular the review committee established in June but it is important a timeline is put in place for completion and publication of that review. It is also important that these drugs are affordable and that the State is not in hock to, or taken advantage of by, the large...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I welcome Mr. Donnellan and thank him for his very informative presentation. His information is based on science and a large amount of research carried out over a long period. Why, in his opinion, was that information not used in the Citizens' Assembly?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: At the same time, this is very important scientific information. If it had been available or, more to the point, requested in advance of the 99 independent people meeting and deliberating for a period of time, the Citizen's Assembly may have taken a different slant.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I seek clarification on livestock numbers. Mr. Donnellan's presentation indicates that 1995 was his original starting point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: To go back even further, according to Mr. Donnellan's presentation, we had more than 7.5 million livestock the country. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: In 2011-12 the number fell to a low point of less than 6.5 million. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: There are now 7.2 million cattle in the country and Mr. Donnellan projects that this figure will increase by another 500,000. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: The figure is still likely to be under the 7.5 million population of cattle we had 1995.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: A large cull of cows is under way in some of the livestock factories and processing plants at the moment. The number of cattle in the country could stabilise rather than increase in the future. Mr. Donnellan's presentation refers to achieving more efficiency and refers to "better before bigger" coming into tune more than in the past. Prior to the abolition of milk quotas, there may have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: We will have fewer dairy cows. A dairy cow was not able to produce as much in 1995 as a dairy cow in 2018. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: Mr. Donnellan's presentation sets out very well the various ways of trying to achieve the targets we are aiming for, providing different scenarios, projected emissions and three mitigation pathways. I agree with his statement that there is no silver bullet. At the same time, some of the measures are common sense and would not take an awful lot to push forward. Is more incentivisation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I think the communications strategy, as mentioned by Mr. Donnellan, is one of the crucial elements as we proceed. In my opinion there has been a general lack of communications about what has been achieved to date. A great deal has been achieved and we must consider what can be achieved by following some of the strategies Mr. Donnellan has outlined today. Has Teagasc a strategy in place to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: Members will be aware that Food Wise 2025 set ambitious targets. CAP reform will be coming down the line, and in my opinion this will be crucial. How can we marry CAP reform to Food Wise 2025 targets to increase agricultural exports to €19 billion by 2025 and create an extra 20,000 odd jobs, which the economy needs and the exports are very important as well? What work has Teagasc...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: As the leading research institute in agriculture, should Teagasc not be leading the way?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I welcome the delegations from the different farm organisations and ICOS here today. This is an important meeting. I concur with the comments that the farming organisations and agriculture in general did not get a fair hearing in the Citizens' Assembly. I was one who asked Ms Justice Laffoy here last September the question Mr. Healy mentioned earlier, that is, if she had more time, would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: Sorry, based on the Citizens' Assembly recommendation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I note that the IFA, in its opening statement, mentions that Ireland has been the most efficient dairy producer and the fifth most efficient beef producer in the world, that there is significant risk of carbon leakage, that the potential implication of carbon leakage would benefit countries that are less efficient which could have a knock-on effect on us, and that we have made considerable...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Dec 2018)

Pat Deering: I will ask about the suckler herd. An article in yesterday's Farming Independentregarding the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, began: "Suckler herds can reduce their Greenhouse Gas emissions by 10pc over the next 20 years if they use genetics to produce profitable and carbon efficient cows." I welcome that statement. The beef data and genomics programme, BDGP, has been one of the...