Results 3,721-3,740 of 7,789 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Lovely, that is grand. It was brought to my attention and that of the committee that the forestry inspectorate branch of Fórsa sent letters on 17 October 2019, 17 December 2019, 9 January 2020 and 24 July 2020. Mr. Dunne's name was on one letter I have seen. Is Mr. Dunne aware of the concerns expressed in these letters that they were not in a position to be doing this work?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Dunne received the letters, he is aware of them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Lovely, I thank Mr. Dunne. Is the head ecologist in the Department in charge of all environmental issues? Has he or she the final word?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Therefore they have the final say on ecology but they have not the final say on anything else, is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Must the head of environment in the Department be an ecologist or is that person an ecologist?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Dunne mentioned earlier a not planting figure of about 60%. I totted the figures up quickly. For the Department to hit 8,000 ha per year, it would need to be hitting 14,000 ha in terms of applications. Does the Department realistically believe that will happen?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank Mr. Dunne. I will deal with Mr. Hayes now in terms of my questions. Mr. Dunne stated that he was aware of the Fórsa letters that were sent to the Department and its HR section. Mr. Hayes is assistant Secretary General. He said at the previous meeting that he was not aware of anything like that happening.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I asked Mr. Hayes-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Hold on now. We can go back on his answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I asked Mr. Hayes if he was aware that forestry inspectors had issues in that they did not want to carry out the works and that they had made the Department aware of that "in your Department". Those were the exact words I used. Mr. Hayes said he was not aware of it. Is he aware of what Mr. Dunne said he was aware of?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: When he was before the committee in November, Mr. Hayes referred to 1,900 applications and he looked at me as if I had not added up the figures right. In fact, I was short. There were 4,500 applications. How could Mr. Hayes come before the committee and be that amount short in terms of the figures?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Hayes is just twisting words.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: My interpretation would be that if I am Joe Farmer, Coillte or a multinational that sends in an application, from the day it goes in to the day it is processed, be it an ecologist or whoever has to look at it, it is in the Department's system from beginning to end until a decision has been made one way or the other. Does Mr. Hayes agree?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The witnesses have stated that there are 200 fewer licences. In November and December, 541 licences were issued, of which 116 were afforestation, 58 were roads and 367 were felling. In the same period, 499 came into the Department. That is a difference of 42. Even if we go on the basis of the 200 that the Department has gained from its own interpretation, from reading the submission would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I know how it works but if the Department has gained 200 from the problem we had, what figure would Mr. Hayes say is acceptable to the public for licence applications so they could be processed in two or three months? What figure would this be down to instead of 4,500 or 4,600?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: There are licences that issued out of the 169 in the past two months that date back three and four years. I am a farmer. I presume the Department will accept that if farmers are waiting two or three years for decisions, they would move on to something else. I presume the witnesses accept that. In the past year, were they instructed by a Minister to prioritise Coillte applications?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have two short questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have a few short questions. Has the Department employed an outside company as well as the ecologists? My understanding is that the Department has an outside company looking over this as well. Is that correct?