Results 5,081-5,100 of 18,459 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Written Answers — Animal Health Ireland: Animal Health Ireland (26 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Animal Health Ireland (AHI) is a private company limited by guarantee and is not a public body under my control. Accordingly it is not within my sole authority to extend its remit. AHI has just completed its first year of operation and I expect the board of AHI to further develop its scope of operation in the control of non-regulated diseases in respect of bovine animals and in other species...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (26 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: REPS 4 is a measure under the current Rural Development Programme 2007–13 and is subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before the first payments issue. Payments issued in 2009 to those whose applications required no further examination following the administrative checks. However, queries arose on a significant number of...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (26 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: A 75% payment issued to the person named on 31 December 2009. The remaining 25% is currently being processed and will be issued shortly.

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (26 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The first payments for the 2009 scheme year issued on 18 December 2009, and payments have continued to issue in the meantime. To date, 9,823 REPS 4 participants have been paid in full. A further 4,508 have received the first phase of 75% of their payments and are due to receive the balance shortly. Payments will issue this week to approximately 1,300 participants. My Department continues to...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (26 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: REPS 4 is a measure under the current Rural Development Programme 2007–13 and is subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before the first payments issue. Payments have issued to those whose applications required no further examination following the administrative checks. However, queries arose in the course of those checks...

Written Answers — Animal Welfare: Animal Welfare (26 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: It is clear from meetings held recently between officials of my Department and representatives of Animal Welfare Organisations, the Horse Industry and Local Authority Veterinary Inspectors that there is an increase in the number of reported horse welfare problems nationally including an increasing risk of abandonment of horses. My Department's legislative responsibility extends to farmed...

Written Answers — Flood Relief: Flood Relief (26 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Mindful of the hardship and distress caused by the recent widespread flooding, on 27 November 2007 I announced the introduction of the Fodder Aid Scheme, targeted directly at those farmers who encountered damage to fodder in the affected areas. While I was very anxious that the funding reach the affected farmers as quickly as possible, it was essential that farmers demonstrate that their...

Animal Identification Scheme. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I have on many occasions expressed concern about the mandatory introduction of electronic identification, EID, in the sheep sector. My consistent view has been that the introduction of EID of sheep should be on a voluntary basis. This position was most recently articulated to the European Commission and fellow Ministers at the Agricultural Council on 20 November 2009. Regretfully, there...

Animal Identification Scheme. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I accept that there will be some additional cost to primary producers. One of the first meetings I had as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was with the EU Commissioner for Health, Androulla Vassiliou, in regard to this issue which comes under her remit within the European Union. I met Ms Vassiliou while she was here in Dublin and have spoken to her on a number of occasions in...

Animal Identification Scheme. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I am not quite sure from where the proposal initiated in 2003. I am not sure if it was proposed by an individual member state or by the Commission. I believe - I am open to correction on this and will check this for the Deputy - it was a Commission proposal initiated by the then Commissioner for Health and Public Safety. The analysis undertaken by my Department indicates that the...

Common Agricultural Policy. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Formal negotiations have yet to commence on the future of the CAP and in that respect there are no proposals to change the calculation method of the single farm payment. However, policy debates have begun in a number of member states, including Ireland, and at EU level on the shape and direction of future EU agricultural policy. Among the issues that are being debated are the shape and...

Common Agricultural Policy. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I share Deputy Creed's views on the issues on which he has touched. At a Council of Ministers meeting in September 2008 under the French Presidency we had our first discussion on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy. At that meeting I, along with some other members, outlined that we had to have an adequately resourced CAP and that my preference would be that we should know the...

Common Agricultural Policy. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Deputy Creed is correct on the co-decision and the influence of the European Parliament. Some time ago officials at senior level within my Department met all our MEPs and gave them a full briefing on the Common Agricultural Policy discussion document. I hope to meet all the MEPs when I attend the next Council of Ministers meeting in February. In the meantime the rapporteur of one of the...

Departmental Agencies. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Under the Agriculture (Research, Training and Advice) Act 1988, Teagasc has statutory responsibility for the provision of research, education and advisory services to the agriculture sector. In accordance with section 13(3)(a) of the Act, Teagasc is required to submit a report in writing to my Department before the end of the financial year outlining its proposed programme of activities for...

Departmental Agencies. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I am not aware of any documentation to which Deputy Creed referred.

Departmental Agencies. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: It is important to recognise the excellent work carried out by Teagasc at all its research centres throughout the country. One such eminent centre is in the north of the Deputy's county of Cork at Moorepark, where there is great collaboration with many major international companies based in the country, both of Irish and foreign origin. The Deputy will be aware of the development alongside...

Departmental Agencies. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: There was nothing in the Deputy's question that I could ascertain in respect of GM crops. It was a general question-----

Departmental Agencies. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: No.

Departmental Agencies. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Teagasc works to the Government programme and priorities. It does so in a very effective way and will continue to do so at all its research centres that it is developing as centres of excellence.

Departmental Agencies. (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: May I say that-----