Results 4,061-4,080 of 11,320 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Forestry Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: We spent a lot of time discussing how the Department would get to the point of issuing 100 licences per week. Around September, the Department started to hit that target on a regular basis. That was never supposed to be the upper limit but it appears it is, as a target has been set for 5,200-odd licences to be issued this year. The lack of ambition and imagination within the Department is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Clarke. It relates to the proposals within the CAP strategic plan to support women in agriculture. I thank my colleague Deputy Clarke for submitting this question. I commend the women in agriculture stakeholders group, which is relatively new but has clearly had an impact. There have been positive changes with regard to increasing the age...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I welcome the progress that has been made. I have often said that there are lots of women farmers but the problem is they are not recognised as such. I just want to touch on one aspect, namely, the EIPs. The strategic plan states there will be potential for women-centred EIPs. Considering this is one of the three aspects of the plan in place to support women farmers, can the Minister give...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I welcome these positive steps. They are something for which my party has been calling for quite some time. Moving beyond this part of the CAP process, it would send a strong signal today if the Minister could confirm his commitment to ensuring that the monitoring committee of CAP will have increased representation by women within its membership. The Minister and myself are at one in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: 111. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress that has been made in ascertaining the level of horticultural peat stock available to growers; and if his Department has commissioned experts to provide free advice to those wishing to achieve regulatory compliance for extraction of horticultural peat on sub-30 ha bogs for supply to the domestic horticulture industry....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: This is an area that we have discussed on many occasions. I recognise that the issue facing the horticulture and mushroom sectors is not necessarily of the Department's making but it has been allowed to develop into a full-blown crisis. This Department, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State at the Department of Housing,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: The horticultural sector is crucially important. It supports the employment of 17,000 people. It has particular emphasis in a number of geographical areas. My constituency is heavily dependent on the mushroom sector. The reason for that is farmers did what they were told. They were told to diversify. They were told to move out of beef on smallholdings. They did that and now they are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: What we are missing are specific answers to the immediate crises that is being faced. The working paper published by the Department in conjunction with the others that I referenced places a significant emphasis on the role of Bord na Móna but there is a lack of clarity on how Bord na Móna will assist. Can the Minister of State confirm that domestic peat producers will be offered...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: Has the Minister of State met Bord na Móna?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: Has the Minister of State met Bord na Móna?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Horticulture Sector (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: Yes.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I commend the Deputy Ward's proposal that the Minister would visit the centre. I had an opportunity during the recess to go there. I welcome the investment made by the Department in this fantastic facility. It is one of those initiatives that ticks so many boxes. It is good for animal welfare and it is good for the community but, crucially and above all else, it is good promotion for the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: 126. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his proposals to increase the use of low-emission slurry spreading technology as per the climate action plan should the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grant aid no longer be permissible arising from the draft nitrates action plan. [6890/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: One would wonder if something else is going on given that so many Members who have asked questions are missing. I have never seen it happen with agriculture questions before.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: Absolutely not. I welcome the opportunity to raise the issue of low-emission slurry spreading with the Minister. We are all agreed that this has a key role to play both in our emissions targets and in improving water quality. In the context of all of that, could the Minister outline his proposals to expand the use of low-emission slurry spreading and to support farmers in making the change?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I agree. This is a great example that shows that when farmers are given the technology and shown the alternative practices that can allow them to reduce emissions and reduce damage to water sources, they will embrace that and move forward. However, they need support. The Minister is correct that TAMS has been very effective in ensuring people have the necessary machinery and can acquire it...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I advocate that we have an exclusive scheme on this issue because we know the benefits it brings. Rather than forcing everybody through the TAMS route, which does not cater for everybody, and through a route that excludes a large cohort in the spreading of slurry - that is, farm contractors - we should have an Exchequer-funded scheme for this. I have said this at the agriculture committee....

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I apologise for being late but I was in the Chamber for Questions to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I am sorry if the questions I ask have already been answered and I am sure some of them will have been. I want to again clarify where we are. How many homes and businesses have been passed?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: What was the figure in December 2021 or at the end of the year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan Expenditure and Related Matters (10 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: Is it correct that the target for the end of March is 60,000?