Results 6,741-6,760 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: The European Union has given Ireland approval to pay an advance of the 2012 single farm payment. A total of €600 million will be paid out from 16 October. My Department is working hard to ensure payments will be processed as quickly as possible thereafter. Despite tough economic conditions, we are investing significantly in the REPS to ensure farmers are supported in delivering the...

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: If Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív wants to get political, if we had to operate under the expenditure ceilings on which the Government of which he was a member signed off, we would not have anything like the schemes we have in place.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: The facts are in black and white; the numbers are available.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy does not want to hear the truth. He does not want me to address his hypocrisy on the issue.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: I was happy to outline in a non-partisan way what the Government had done in the past 18 months, but I must refer to the hypocrisy of the motion and what Fianna Fáil is calling for, given what it left the country with before it left office.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: I had to negotiate an increase in the expenditure ceilings last year because of the mess left by Fianna Fáil.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: If I had not managed to negotiate that increase, we would never have seen an AEOS in place.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: We are going to have a challenging budget for next year, but I will do what I did last year, that is, be upfront and honest with farming bodies and work closely with them, as I already do on the CAP and as we did last year in the build-up to the budget to try to find the savings we needed to make, as every Minister must do within his or her Department, to cut the cost of delivering services....

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: -----the expenditure ceilings it had left us with and we had to adjust upwards.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: I will do everything possible to protect farm incomes and the supports available for farm families, particularly after the difficult summer they have faced.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: The CAP is not even mentioned in the motion.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: That is correct.

Agriculture: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: We have included them.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: The negotiations to determine the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy from 2014 to 2020 are part of wider negotiations that will decide the multi-annual financial framework, or MFF, for the EU budget for the period from 2014 to 2020. These negotiations are being conducted under the auspices of the EU General Affairs Council, attended by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Tax Code (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 492 and 508 together. Taxation policy is a matter for the Minister for Finance and will be dealt with in the context of the annual budget. However, I am aware of the importance of improving land mobility and of encouraging greater transfer of land, and of the existing challenges in this regard. In order to assist meeting the ambitious targets set out in...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Disadvantaged Areas Scheme Payments (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: An application under the 2012 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 9 May 2012. However, payment has not yet issued as, at this stage, the holding of the person concerned has not yet satisfied the Scheme minimum stocking density requirements, which have been notified to all Scheme applicants. Immediately the holding concerned is confirmed as having met these...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Rural Environment Protection Scheme Payments (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: The person named commenced REPS 4 in September 2009 and received full payments for the first two years of their contract. REPS 4 is a measure under the current 2007-13 Rural Development Programme and is subject to EU regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before any payments can issue. Administrative checks in respect of 2011 payments...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Conditions (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: Details of the re-opened Agri-environment Options Scheme (AEOS) which I announced recently with funding of €20m will be available on the Department’s website in the next day or two. The scheme will operate largely on the same basis as in previous years with the same measures and the same payment rates. However, I have also decided to introduce some new provisions. There will be...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Conditions (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: I have decided that the re-opened Agri-environment Options Scheme (AEOS) will operate largely on the same basis as in previous years and that the same measures and rates of payment will be available, including the measures providing for hedgerow and tree planting. Details of the scheme which I announced with funding of €20m will be available on the Department’s website in the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Conditions (9 Oct 2012)

Simon Coveney: The targets for the Tree Planting Standard/Whips and the Planting of New Hedgerows measures under the agri-environmental schemes are set out in the Rural Development Programme, 2007-13. In the case of the Tree Planting Standard/Whips measure, the target is 9,043 trees. Under the 2010 and 2011 Agri-environment Options Scheme (AEOS) a total of 259,915 trees have been delivered. The target set...