Results 4,421-4,440 of 7,789 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products (Resumed): Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (6 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have been informed that it is a two-liner. Considering how close the Border is, are our guests concerned that, with the different set-up in different areas, a problem will arise whereby certain farmers will get stuff across the Border whether we like it or not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products (Resumed): Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (6 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: That is okay. Let us consider a farmer with a herd of five, ten or 15 suckler cows in the west or in any other part of Ireland. A farmer with 50 or 60 sheep will be affected more. Say a vet comes to do a herd test for me once a year and I tell the vet that I give them a fluke dose either before or after they go out in June or July and another two weeks after they have come back in. On the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products (Resumed): Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (6 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: He is entitled to give the prescription, not the product.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products (Resumed): Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (6 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: What is the vet legally entitled to do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products (Resumed): Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (6 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I will be quite honest, I have concerns about what the Department is doing. We are leaving a body of people who are extremely experienced with the system that is in place. The Department missed a beat in 2014 and 2015 when, as I understand it, the Brits wanted Ireland to work with them. We thought it was better to drive on. The regulation now seems to be the problem. I ask the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products (Resumed): Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (6 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: With respect, the representatives from the Department have admitted that they have not met the people who will be affected the most.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products (Resumed): Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (6 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: It is their livelihoods that are at stake.

Financial Resolutions 2021 - Budget Statement 2022 (12 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: What about rural dwellers?

Financial Resolutions 2021 - Budget Statement 2022 (12 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I welcome the opportunity to speak. It is welcome that the thresholds for the carer's allowance have been lifted a bit. My honest opinion is that anybody who gives up a job to mind someone belonging to them as a carer should not be means tested because the service such a person does for the State is unbelievable. I also welcome the move on childcare. The devil will be in the detail and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for coming in. How many bodies of water are there in Ireland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Agriculture is responsible for the impact on 1,000, from what the witnesses said earlier, and 200 more are affected by sewage. What is the story with the other 3,700?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am trying to work out the figures. There are 4,900, of which about 2,450 are not impacted, and adding the 1,000 and 200 brings the number to 3,650. What is the story with the others?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Are two thirds in good condition?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Which province has the best water quality?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We will say nitrogen or phosphorous.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: When the witnesses are examining a river or lake and there are many tributaries that they would not visit, can they distinguish between human and cattle waste?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: If I go to a bridge over a river, I often see EPA vehicles sampling water. If the EPA is sampling for pollution or other things, can it distinguish between human and animal waste in the sewage or pollutants in a river? Can it distinguish between it in phosphorous and other things that the EPA is looking for?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I know of many towns which, in fairness, the EPA has been looking to provide with sewage treatment plants. If there are farmers farming along that river and a town where sewage was coming into it, is it possible to distinguish when it takes samples whether animals or people are causing the problem? That is all I am trying to establish.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am not disputing anything. I am not querying the Commission or what it is passing or not. I am an ordinary person asking about a small town which does not have a sewage treatment plant and where everything goes down to the river. If there are also farms along the river, when the EPA does its tests, is it able to distinguish clearly whether the waste is from the town or the farm when it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Dr. Cotter is talking about a scientific test. It is not that the EPA is saying there is a town or farm down the way. Is it a scientific test?