Results 8,241-8,260 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Harbours and Piers (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: My Department administers the fishery harbour and coastal infrastructure capital development programme every year. Dunmore East fishery harbour centre is one of the six designated fishery harbour centres which are owned, managed and maintained by my Department and, as such, it receives funding annually on foot of the programme. My Department continues to support the harbour's development...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Harbours and Piers (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: The reality is that nothing can be done if one does not have the money. We have taken on consultants to examine the options-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Harbours and Piers (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy is asking for more than half of my total harbours fund. I simply do not have it. If I had the money, I would be spending it on this. This is one of the harbours that has priority when it comes to dredging investment. Fish landings at Dunmore East are actually increasing every year. Quotas are significantly up this year and it is my job to negotiate another good deal on the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Fisheries Policy Negotiations (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: Sole is one of the species whose stock is under pressure in the Irish Sea.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Fisheries Policy Negotiations (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I am hoping to get the best deal I can for fishermen next week in a whole series of areas, particularly with regard to prawns in the Irish Sea and area VII generally. As part of that, fantastic work has been done by the Marine Institute. One of the stocks under pressure is sole. I hope the Acting Chairman feels guilty now.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Fisheries Policy Negotiations (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I hope he enjoyed it because it might be the last one he gets.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Fisheries Policy Negotiations (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: Deputy Browne has been in this ministry before and will know the preparation required for the negotiations on total allowable catches, TACs, and fishing quotas. These preparations have been completed this year in an impressive manner. There has been much talk about getting the reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy done during the Irish EU Presidency. I am equally focused on the Common...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Fisheries Policy Negotiations (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: We worked hard during the Danish EU Council Presidency, which was before the current Cypriot Presidency, to get a Common Position on discards by the end of the Presidency, which was the end of June this year. There is a basic agreement in principle on how to address discards. However, dealing with the pelagic sector is different from dealing with the whitefish sector and there is a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Land Reclassification (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I am pleased that the Deputy has asked this question because we discussed it some weeks ago. I am pleased that I have managed to bring the issue forward since that discussion. I wish to make clear at the outset that my reply relates to the public trust set up in 1919 under the provisions of the Land Purchase Acts. To avoid confusion, my Department refers to it as the Castlerea Public Trust...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Land Reclassification (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: If the Deputy prefers I will get to the meat of it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Land Reclassification (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I have only half a page left.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Land Reclassification (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: The minimum number of trustees in this trust is five and the maximum number is 12. It is important that the replacement trustees are nominated by and acceptable to existing trustees to ensure the harmonious work of the trust. This is especially important in Castlerea because at present the people who are the trustees of the Castlerea Public Trust lands are also trustees of the contiguous...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Land Reclassification (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I am not sure everybody will get what they want but we are moving towards resolving the matter.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Land Reclassification (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: That is what is happening. I turned around a situation about which the Deputy was very unhappy.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Land Reclassification (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: We have created time and space to try to find a solution.

Other Questions: Single Payment Scheme Payments (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: This question is in the name of Deputy Kitt, although I suspect it comes from Deputy Ó Cuív. It relates to whether we should be setting ceilings on future single farm payments. Before considering whether we should be setting caps on single farm payments, we first need to know that we have the capacity to do so. I have been supportive of the Commissioner's proposals to cap single...

Other Questions: Single Payment Scheme Payments (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: Two sets of negotiations are ongoing. The first concerns negotiations on the overall budget, the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, as referred to by the Deputy. We failed collectively last month as a European Union to get agreement on the MFF. This budget is for seven years and is worth more than €1 trillion. There was a wide variation in what countries wanted in terms of the...

Other Questions: Single Payment Scheme Payments (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: We hope to conclude the MFF discussions during the Irish Presidency of the European Council at a Heads of State meeting to be held on 7 February. It is likely to be the next big summit meeting on the MFF. If we can get the budget agreed in February, it may be possible to get the CAP reform finalised before the end of the Irish Presidency. If we cannot get the MFF agreed in February, it...

Other Questions: Single Payment Scheme Payments (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: This issue is the subject of Question No. 9, at which point I will respond to those questions.

Other Questions: Sugar Industry (13 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I can understand my colleague's frustration, as somebody who comes from a town where the sugar industry provided huge employment and significant opportunities for arable farmers in particular, that the industry is now no longer in existence because of policy decisions and mistakes that were made a number of years ago. That being said, I think it is possible for us to revive the sugar...