Results 6,301-6,320 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Water Quality Monitoring Report: Discussion (19 Jul 2023)

Steven Matthews: Yes, the nitrates. I am referring back to the report. Appendix 1 - Copy of Article 12 of the Commission Implementing Decision begins, "The competent authorities shall submit ..." and continues from there. The EPA does not decide how it is going to test water. Water testing and reporting is a fairly standardised procedure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Water Quality Monitoring Report: Discussion (19 Jul 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Dr. Cotter very much. I encourage her to please keep carrying out the work she is doing. It is critically important that we have good scientific evidence to work out our policies and the actions we should take.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank those members who declared an interest because it is beneficial to this committee to have people with such farming experience and from a farming background. It is a complex area and the more I engage with farmers, the more I learn about it. I do not think members having an interest is a difficulty. Where it does become a difficulty is when people point a finger at an independent...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: I appreciate that much of this was before the Minister's time as it goes back to 1991, which is a long time ago. We are on the fifth nitrates action programme. The first was introduced in 2006. Did every action that was recommended and required take place and was this audited and monitored? Did we have auditing and monitoring of all the recommendations and actions required under our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: Would a larger inspection programme help? Is it practicable to do this? I note that the Minister spoke about assistance in his opening statement. I will come to that in a moment. In my view, it is a matter of more information, more assistance and more education, although I do not like to use word "education". It is a matter of showing farmers how to do this. If we were to up that, would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: Aside from the nitrates action programme recommendations, when the EPA was in there was reference to Timoleague, where a much more rapid frequency of water testing is being carried out on a micro level. There is some suggestion that there have been improvements in water quality there, but my understanding is that essentially it is following the same trends as we have seen in the EPA report....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: But are there extra actions? Are other, extra technologies being used in those six testing areas in Timoleague?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: There are not. Is it the exact same as what is contained-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is it the case that it is just more carefully managed, observed and reported on in Timoleague? If so, the suggestion would be that if we had that same level of monitoring, reporting and inspection across the country, we would see the same results countrywide as we see in Timoleague.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is the direction I want to go in and not how we got here because I think many people are aware of how we got to this situation. It is not a surprise because we have seen that trend in deteriorating water quality. Many of the NGOs, which come in for a lot of criticism, such as The Sustainable Water Network, SWAN, and An Taisce, etc., have highlighted this for many years. The Commission...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank the Minister. There is a political responsibility on every one of us as public representatives not to go out and blame. Some parties blame this on a flawed process and others criticise the messenger - the highly-competent, experienced and dependable EPA reports. That is not the way this will be solved. It will be solved by ensuring farmers have the supports they need to protect...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (20 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: 160. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 475 of 11 September 2023, if he will confirm the anomaly, which was acknowledged by him whereby foster children are treated differently in approved retirement fund legislation, will be rectified in the context of the upcoming budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40169/23]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs (20 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: 166. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding a review of the level of pension contributions that qualify for the higher rate of tax relief introduced in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40311/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: 271. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the pathfinder energy retrofit project for a school (details supplied); if she will provide a timeline for the commencement of works; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39683/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Sep 2023)

Steven Matthews: 317. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 689 of 11 September 2023, if she will request a review of the current HSCL allocation to a school (details supplied), as the current allocation does not reflect the DEIS status of the school; if her Department can engage with the school management directly; and if she will make a statement on the matter....