Results 4,981-5,000 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Tuberculosis Incidence (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: I agree with the Deputy on the boarder issue of badger baiting and the need for a new approach towards animal welfare. I will soon publish a new animal welfare Bill. I know the Deputy's concern in this matter is genuine and hope she will participate in the debate on the forthcoming Bill. I have strong views on animal welfare, which will be evident from the new animal welfare Bill. The...

Departmental Funding (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: Financial supports to the aquaculture sector, as part of the Irish National Seafood Programme 2007-2013, are currently provided by BIM. In the course of the public and statutory consultation process of the strategic environmental assessment of that programme, concerns were raised by the Central and Regional Fisheries Boards, now Inland Fisheries Ireland, and the Department of Communications,...

Departmental Agencies (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: This is an operational matter for the Teagasc authority. Teagasc has statutory responsibility for the delivery of education, advisory and research services to the agriculture sector. It is a matter for Teagasc and its board to prioritise activities in the delivery of these services and to allocate its resources in accordance with these priorities. Ministerial responsibility is confined to...

Departmental Agencies (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: It is important to note that Teagasc has committed to spending approximately €4.8 million on the Ashtown site to facilitate the move from Kinsealy. Additional information not given on the floor of the House. Teagasc has developed excellent facilities in Ashtown following significant investment in recent years and relocation provides an excellent opportunity to optimise the usage of this...

Departmental Agencies (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: I must take my briefing from Teagasc on this issue. I can understand the importance of Kinsealy, particularly from a horticultural research perspective, but my understanding is the planned move to Ashtown and the consequential investment will be able to maintain the standard of service that already exists. It is possible to rationalise and to move four centres into three, particularly when...

Departmental Agencies (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: There is a role for me to ensure that Teagasc spends its budget properly and gets value for money. I have spoken to the director of Teagasc many times on a series of matters, including how it prioritises and where it spends money and how it envisages its strategic role in respect of developing the agrifood industry. I note it is doing a great deal of good work in this regard. Consequently,...

Farm Inspections (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: My Department, in the context of delivering the direct payments schemes, is required to carry out annual inspections covering land eligibility and cross-compliance to ensure compliance with EU regulatory requirements. The value of these schemes to Irish farmers is €1.8 billion annually. It therefore is incumbent on my Department to ensure the regulatory control environment is implemented...

Farm Inspections (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: As for the specific question, in the time available it has not been possible to compile a full range of data as requested by the Deputy. However this is being compiled and when it is available, as it is for 2009 and 2010 at present, the details will be forwarded to the Deputy. Additional information not given on the floor of the House. It is a regulatory requirement that land eligibility...

Farm Inspections (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: First, I need to know if people are being inspected repeatedly because according to my information, only a relatively small percentage of farmers are meant to be inspected each year. If people are of the view that they have been targeted for four years out of five, for example, that would be strange and I would like to know about it and find out why it is the case. Perhaps the Deputy might...

Agri-Environmental Options Scheme (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: This question relates to the agri-environmental options scheme, AEOS, for this year. Rather than providing the Deputy with a long dissertation on the REPS and the AEOS, I will outline the facts as I see them. At budget time I stated I would like to introduce a new AEOS but that it would be targeted at a specific group of farmers. I have repeatedly stated those who are farming in special...

Agri-Environmental Options Scheme (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: My officials have been working on them this week and draft proposals may be ready as early as next week. However, that is not to state they will be agreed at that point. Let us be clear about the process which must be gone through. I will be obliged to obtain approval from the Department of Finance to introduce a new AEOS. That will not be straightforward because it is difficult to get...

Common Agricultural Policy (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: When I saw this question had been tabled in the name of Deputy Michael McGrath, I thought he had become interested in agriculture. No such luck, however,

Common Agricultural Policy (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: Exactly. I am glad the question was tabled because we had a very useful visit from Commissioner Ciolos a number of weeks ago. Deputies Michael Moynihan and Michael Colreavy made a number of extremely relevant points to the Commissioner during the Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture's meeting with him. I had an opportunity to spend approximately three hours...

Common Agricultural Policy (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: We are at one on this issue but it is important to state the big issue for us is the redistribution of direct payments. We also require clarity on rural development funds. We still do not know how this funding will be distributed between the member states. Let us be clear that 2014 issue needs to be resolved but it is not the big issue. The big issue for us is to ensure the €1.3 billion...

Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: This question is slightly confusing in terms of how it is worded, but I believe I know what it is getting at and I would like to bring clarity to the changes we have made to disadvantaged areas payments. It is important to say I had repeatedly stated to farmers in disadvantaged areas in the build-up to the budget that we would need to make savings from the schemes because we could not make...

Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: To be clear, any farmers who must have a low stocking rate because they farm in a commonage area and therefore must abide by a commonage framework programme which requires them to have a low stocking rate are exempt from any cuts and their payments will be maintained. This is about what happened last year, as last year is the reference year for stocking rates. If one was below the threshold...

Milk Quota (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: I suspect this question has come from Deputy Moynihan because he rightly asks it, or some version of it, during every Question Time on agriculture. It concerns the milk soft landing. I have had informal meetings with the new Danish Presidency. There is a new Danish Minister following elections some months before Denmark took the Presidency. Ireland and Denmark are very much at one on this...

Milk Quota (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: I would love to have a Europe wide milk quota. It would mean we could increase Europe's output of milk by 4% or 5% because that was the amount it was under quota last year but we must get real. We cannot even get agreement on a butterfat adjustment never mind a radical rethink in terms of the way we manage quota across the European Union. I agree with the Deputy on that but it is important...

Pigmeat Sector (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 16 together. Ireland is more than 150% self-sufficient in pigmeat with the result that export values reached almost €400 million last year, an increase of 18% compared to 2010. The industry supports more than 7,000 jobs in farming, milling, processing and ancillary services. It is the third largest component of Irish agriculture after dairy and...

Pigmeat Sector (9 Feb 2012)

Simon Coveney: That is a fair point. With the development of the artisan food sector in Ireland, we are finding new ways of adding value to product that can target different types of premium markets. In the past we were very much a commodity food producer. We produced milk to produce cheese or milk powder but now we produce milk to produce both products and, on top of that, we produce sports nutrition...