Results 4,001-4,020 of 7,789 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Jun 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: First, I want to make it clear that I cannot support this draconian legislation. Where is it going to end? Are we moving towards dictatorship in this country? It was always said that things would change once the most vulnerable were vaccinated. People in their 70s and over got their vaccines first and on it went down through those in their 60s and 50s. Now people in their 40s are being...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses. I was late because I took part in Leaders’ Questions. I know Mr. Dunne and Mr. Hayes are here. Is there a third person with them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for coming in. On Project Woodland - either Mr. Hayes or Mr. O’Doherty can answer this - is Mr. O’Doherty a project manager or is he an adviser? What is Mr. Hayes’s role in Project Woodland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Just to clarify, is Mr. O’Doherty a project manager? Is that it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: So, he is the project manager. What is your role?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: But you are not a project manager, or anything like that, on this. Mr. O’Doherty is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: With all due respect, and I thank Mr. O’Doherty for his answer, what I am trying to find out is this. He mentioned that he is an adviser. Under the headings of Project Woodland, it states that a “project manager” is a position. Who is the project manager? Is it you?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: That is it. I do not want any more, once I know who it is. That is all I want to know. The metrics that are based on the increases on last year were coming from a very low base. Would Mr. Hayes agree that if we went back to years before, they would have been minimal? Is it acceptable to be working from bases like that, considering the type of figures we are looking at?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: It should be tripling it because we are in trouble. My next question is on the number of licences in the system. Mr. Hayes has stated in his submission that the figure is 6,119, of which Coillte have put in 1,842, and I know it has put in some lately, which leaves 4,277. Mr. Hayes will recall we spoke about this last November. He said that there were 1,900 licences backlogged, that there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Hold on now. As regards the previous meeting of the committee, I gave Mr. Hayes the information on the first day and when we brought him in again and I questioned him about it, he said that 1,900 would basically have to go into ecology or whatever as there were difficulties but there were 2,500 with which there was no problem. So far this year, approximately 1,200 licences have been issued....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We know that but where are they?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes, but we are not getting that figure down.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We are not getting the figures down. It is as simple as that. One could add the Coillte licences on top with the new licences but I am taking them out. What I am saying is that there were 2,500 licences in respect of which Mr. Hayes stated there was no problem but only approximately 1,200 have been issued. If the were no problems with the other 1,300, why have they not been issued?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have a few more questions and I do not want to hog the meeting. In his opening statement, Mr. Hayes stated that 2.2 million cu. m of timber is basically licensed this year. We know that thinnings and clear-fell are included in that. Has the Department brought out a system since November to know the difference between those? If there is 2.2 million cu. m available at the moment, why are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: It is not on the dashboard, is it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Can it be put on the dashboard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank Mr. Hayes. If that could be put in, it would be helpful to us. I ask Mr. Dunne to brief me on the project involving Coillte and Bord na Móna currently planting on degraded bog. Do they get licences or whatever? What is the involvement of the Department in that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: How many hectares are involved in that pilot programme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Issues: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (27 May 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am looking at it for ordinary farmers around the country. Do they have to get a licence for that? Do they have to do the usual environmental stuff?