Results 5,181-5,200 of 5,615 for speaker:Andrew Doyle

Topical Issue Debate: Land Issues (24 May 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I cannot answer that question but I can get clarification on it.

Topical Issue Debate: Aquaculture Licences (21 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: An aquaculture licence is required by law for the cultivation of finfish, shellfish and certain marine plants such as seaweed. My Department considers all applications for aquaculture licences in accordance with the provisions of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997, the Foreshore Act 1933 and applicable EU legislation. The process involves consultation with a wide range of scientific and...

Topical Issue Debate: Aquaculture Licences (21 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: Can the rest of my notes be included in the record?

Topical Issue Debate: Aquaculture Licences (21 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I think copies have been circulated.

Topical Issue Debate: Aquaculture Licences (21 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I was going to get to the aquaculture licensing review group in the final part of my opening statement. Some 385 submissions were received. There are 30 recommendations which are being considered. I cannot pre-empt what decision will be made, but the Department is currently considering that report. With regard to the Kincasslagh and Gaoth Dobhair bays, I understand the Keadue Strand...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I thank Deputy McConalogue for his sincere best wishes. I hope we can continue to have a cordial, if sometimes robust, exchange. I apologise on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Michael Creed. He drew the short straw and is on a trade mission in the United States and Mexico. I got the more important weekly job, where we engage with our colleagues across the floor. This is my...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I have only been here for ten years, but I am still learning. Food Wise 2025, the new ten-year strategy for the agrifood sector, was published in July 2015. It includes more than 400 specific recommendations, spread across the cross-cutting themes of sustainability, innovation, human capital, market development and competitiveness, as well as specific sectoral recommendations. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I am acutely aware of it. One perhaps ironic fact that emerged from the statistics in the survey was that the reduction between 2015 to 2016 was almost entirely in the dairy sector, which represents 19% of all farms. Income has gone from an average of €62,000 to €51,000, whereas the other sectors are stable. It is hard to believe, with the exception of tillage, that is the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: We are extending into matters that will be raised in further questions with regard to the CAP and the CAP fund. If the Deputy will be here, we will deal with that then. I agree that if one will grow agri-production from €11 billion to €19 billion and primary producers do not feel that they have an interest, skin in the game and a viable future, one does not have any other...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I thank Deputy Martin Kenny for his good wishes. I would be a little bit more optimistic than a couple of months but nobody knows. Teagasc released the preliminary results of the National Farm Survey 2016 recently which showed average farm income of €24,000, a 9% decrease over 2015. However, there are significant differences in farm income depending on the farming system and size of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I accept the point. Even in the context of international production, Ireland is one of the biggest exporters of beef but it is by no means the biggest producer.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: That is why, if we are going for volume, we cannot compete with countries, such as Australia and the United States or countries in South America. Bord Bia's strategy, and part of the purpose of the mission that the Minister is on in the US at present, is to move up the value chain at all times and select markets where we can aim higher so that there is such a return all the way down. One...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: It was not today or yesterday when the priority for Bord Bia was set as aiming at the higher end of the market. There has been that realisation for a long time. Origin Green is based on the slogan of safe, sustainable and secure produce which has resonance throughout the globe. However, it is a competitive market. I remember my father buying shares in Cork Marts IMP, into which he put...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Farm Household Incomes (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: We saw a merger here recently of Dunbia and Dawn Meats. It is an open secret and the Commission has been notified of it. It is easy to say the monopolies are price-fixing downwards. Let us consider the price Irish products are getting throughout Europe. It is getting as good a price as is available, but we would love to see them getting a better one. If we were competing at the low end,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Data (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I will get into some of the specifics in the supplementary exchanges. This is something that is exercising the minds of many in the Department. Under the rural development programme the Department has delivered over 20 new schemes that have been supported by IT capability in the past two years. In the first two years of the current rural development programme the Department implemented...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Data (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: The Deputy says it seems the Department is being run by an IT system, but people have to manage the IT systems too. I accept what the Deputy is saying to a point. However, the IT system has to score an application correctly. What if it throws up a discrepancy? I have listed some instances in which there may be a discrepancy. This is what happened in beefing up the IT unit and changing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Data (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: To be clear, the regulations do not allow payment to be issued until the scheme has been complied with. There is no flexibility to say we believe it will be complied with. We cannot do that. What we can do is ensure that when a problem is identified, the discrepancy is dealt with as quickly as possible. At times, it is a matter of waiting for the other side to respond. I am dealing with...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I thank Deputy Penrose for his good wishes. I am extremely conscious of the importance of the CAP budget to Ireland's agriculture sector. The UK's withdrawal from the EU has been independently estimated to be likely to lead to a reduction of circa €10 billion, which will undoubtedly put pressure on the availability of funding for the future CAP. In the meantime, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: I can only agree with everything the Deputy has said. It is a huge challenge. It was going to be a challenge even if the UK had voted to stay because of the competing demands for the EU budget and because the perception of what CAP is about has been misconstrued and misunderstood for many years. It depends on the member state. During the last period of CAP negotiations, former...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (22 Jun 2017)

Andrew Doyle: There is no doubt that we need allies. There will be trade-offs. The last CAP was concluded under the Irish Presidency and under the aegis of the former Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney. Much of the ground work was done with Commissioner Ciološ. It is important to build alliances and create understanding of what we are about. One statistic that...