Results 5,141-5,160 of 18,459 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Written Answers — Food Industry: Food Industry (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment consulted closely with my Department in preparing the consultation paper for the public consultation process that has now taken place. The next step will be to draft a code of practice and my Department will liaise closely with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on this. The EU Commission has also issued a Communication on a...

Written Answers — Animal Diseases: Animal Diseases (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Notification to my Department of a case of Johne's disease only takes place on the basis of a positive faecal culture. As this takes 42 days to grow there have been no instances identified as yet for 2010. In total there were 471 culture tests completed by my Department for 2009. From these, there have been 99 positive tests sourced from 58 different herds including one positive goat herd....

Written Answers — Food Safety Standards: Food Safety Standards (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I established the inter-agency review of the dioxin contamination incident for the purpose inter alia of identifying any adjustments to official controls in the light of experiences gained from the incident. The report of the review concluded that once the incident was identified by my Department's residue monitoring programme it was handled well and all actions were proportionate and...

Written Answers — Fisheries Protection: Fisheries Protection (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The proposed Council Regulation fixing for 2010 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are required states that in the case of Spurdog/Dogfish (Squalus acanthias) the following rules will apply; By-catches are permitted up to 10% of the 2009 quotas established in...

Written Answers — Live Exports: Live Exports (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The live export trade is an important component of our meat and livestock industry and provides a complement to the beef trade. Overall live exports in 2009 increased by 94% on 2008 levels. In the same period, exports to the UK increased by 159%, with those to Great Britain increasing by 440% and those to other destinations by 74%. While the purchasing policy of UK meat plants is a commercial...

Written Answers — Land Values: Land Values (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: A recent report by Independent global property consultants Knight Frank Ireland shows that farmland prices declined significantly countrywide, but the most significant decline was in the Dublin/Kildare/Wicklow region, where average prices dropped by 56.6%. The average price paid per acre in this premier region in 2009 was €10,920 down from the previous year's €25,210. The substantial...

Written Answers — Grocery Industry: Grocery Industry (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: As signalled by the Tánaiste, the intention is to implement a national Code of Practice for doing business in the Grocery Goods sector with a view to ensuring a fair trading relationship between retailers and their suppliers. The code will be initially on a voluntary basis. The EU Commission has also issued a Communication on a better functioning food supply chain in Europe. As I said at...

Written Answers — Fishing Quota: Fishing Quota (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 135 together. A final decision on the mackerel quotas was predicated on the outcome of the EU Norway negotiations which concluded with an agreement yesterday evening. Indications are that a Commission non-paper will be presented shortly to the Council working group on Fisheries followed with a formal proposal to the same body soon after. The proposal...

Written Answers — Crop Losses: Crop Losses (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I am aware that due to very wet conditions in November 2009 a proportion of the total national area of potatoes remained unharvested at the end of the year. Since Christmas Ireland has experienced very severe frost conditions which have resulted in losses to potatoes. The extent of losses is difficult to quantify at this stage. It would be influenced by location and the extent to which the...

Written Answers — Beef Industry: Beef Industry (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: My Department has no plans to introduce specific initiatives to encourage bull beef production over other systems of beef production. It is a matter for the processing industry, in responding to market demands for bull beef, or any other specialised form of beef production, to provide a sufficient level of price incentive to such producers.

Written Answers — Crop Losses: Crop Losses (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I am aware that due to very wet conditions in November 2009 a proportion of the total national area of potatoes remained unharvested at the end of the year. Since Christmas Ireland has experienced very severe frost conditions which have resulted in losses to potatoes. The extent of losses is difficult to quantify at this stage. It would be influenced by location and the extent to which the...

Written Answers — Rural Development: Rural Development (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The amended Rural Development Programme which included proposals for the new agri-environment scheme, was agreed by the EU's Rural Development Management Committee on 20 January and I hope to secure formal approval from the European Commission for the scheme in the next few weeks. The new scheme will focus on the priority objectives of biodiversity, climate change and water management. The...

Written Answers — Provision of Allotments: Provision of Allotments (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The Acquisition of Land (Allotments) Act 1926 enables local authorities to let allotments in urban areas to an individual for the specific purpose of cultivating vegetables mainly for consumption by that individual "or his family", if that local authority is satisfied that a demand exists. The Act comes entirely within the remit of the Minister for Environment and Local Government and I have...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry: Fishing Industry (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The Ombudsman's staff examine complaints concerning the administrative actions of all Government Departments including my own. Consequently, I do not see the necessity for a distinct Ombudsman for fisheries at this time.

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (27 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...

Written Answers — Common Agricultural Policy: Common Agricultural Policy (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: My overarching view is that future EU agricultural policy must adhere closely to the original objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy as set out in the Treaty of Rome and reiterated in the Lisbon Treaty. It must contain elements that protect farmers' incomes and thus maintain family farming in Europe. It also needs to ensure security of food supply and the delivery of quality products...

Written Answers — Dairy Sector: Dairy Sector (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: The EU dairy fund was part of a package of measures agreed at the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers last October. The Commission made available a fund of €300 million to support dairy farmers across the EU who were severely affected by the fall in prices. Each Member State's share was calculated based on their milk production in the 2008/2009 year within national quotas, and...

Written Answers — Food Security: Food Security (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Currently 1 billion people in the world are food insecure. This is an ongoing tragedy, which was made worse by global food price rises in 2008. People need safe, nutritious, affordable food. Across the globe, countries need to sustainably increase agriculture production to improve food availability and most importantly locally resilient food systems must increase access for the poor and...

Written Answers — Sheep Sector: Sheep Sector (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 145 and 168 together. I am mindful of the particular difficulties being experienced by the Irish sheep sector and I decided late last year on a two-fold approach to address the situation. In the first instance, I decided to allocate approximately €7 million from the Single Payment National Reserve to 14,000 sheep farmers, these being the only funds to which...

Written Answers — Road Repairs: Road Repairs (27 Jan 2010)

Brendan Smith: Repair works to drain water from public roads are the responsibility of the Local Authorities, who are under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government.