Results 821-840 of 18,449 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (8 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: With regard to the current position of the Operational Programme for Fisheries, the Commission Negotiating position was received on the 22nd of April 2008. The Commission has expressed disappointment that measures under Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund are not included as co-funded measures. The draft Operational Programme involves support for priority areas including decommissioning of...

Written Answers — Bovine Diseases: Bovine Diseases (8 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 379 and 380 together. Ireland has been and continues to be bluetongue-free and the presence of the disease in a number of other Member States has had very little impact on Irish agriculture. While a small number of imported animals that were tested on their arrival here were found to have been exposed to the virus in the past, they were found to be free of the...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (8 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food sends a quarterly return to the Decentralisation Implementation Group which details the non-property costs such as travel and overtime. To the end of 2007, the last reporting deadline, the costs amounted to €90,128.

Written Answers — Harbours and Piers: Harbours and Piers (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Funding has been provided by my Department under the Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme for the above two locations. In 2007, my Department approved agreed to provide funding of €500,000 to Kerry County Council towards the development of the pier at Cromane, Co. Kerry. The project involves the construction of a pier, breakwater, access road and dredging of the...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Significant progress has been made in delivering on this commitment in the Programme for Government. BIM have assisted in the strategy whereby four of the main Fishing Co-operatives (Foyle, Clogherhead, Galway & Aran and Union Hall) joined forces, under a single brand name called "Passion on a Plate". These co-operatives are also working on taking a consumer brand, called Cashelmara, to the...

Written Answers — Fishing Fleet Modernisation: Fishing Fleet Modernisation (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Substantial progress has been made in the area of fleet restructuring with a new Decommissioning scheme launched in February of this year. This scheme will to deliver on the commitments for fleet restructuring contained in the Programme for Government with €42 million committed to fund this scheme in 2008 and 2009. The scheme is a voluntary scheme which will permanently remove fishing...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: BIM continues to be involved in many local and international collaborative projects that cover issues related to the marine and coastal environment, responsible fishing and aquaculture, and the sustainability of seafood supplies. Of prime importance is BIM's Position Statement on Responsible Fishing and Aquaculture, which is a blueprint of BIM's themes of responsibility, and sets out a...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: I am happy to state that in meeting the commitment in the Programme for Government, the "Environmentally Friendly Fishing Gear and Fuel Monitoring Equipment Grant Aid Scheme" continues to be implemented and promoted by BIM. This scheme provided co-funded (ie. exchequer and EU funds) grants of up to 40% to improve efficiency and conservation methods on board fishing vessels. Public aid for...

Written Answers — Aquaculture Development: Aquaculture Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Seafood Development will benefit from an investment of €216 million under the new National Development Plan (NDP) 2007-2013. A further €118 million may be made available over the life of the plan for the proposals set out in "STEERING A NEW COURSE — Strategy for a Restructured, Sustainable and Profitable Irish Seafood Industry 2007-2013"( the Cawley Report) on the basis of verified...

Written Answers — Marine Research: Marine Research (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Sea Change: A Marine Knowledge, Research & Innovation Strategy for Ireland 2007-2013 has been approved by Government and represents the most ambitious marine RTDI strategy in the history of the state. The Strategy builds on the vision and strategy outlined in the 2006 National Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) published by the Government. Sea Change aims to drive the...

Written Answers — Marine Research: Marine Research (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: A National Marine Biodiscovery Programme was initiated by the Marine Institute in 2007. This was managed by the Marine Institute, in partnership with a range of national and international centres of expertise. This programme is driven by the strategic objectives of Sea Change, the National Marine Research and Innovation Strategy for the period 2007-2013. The underlying objective of the...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: The Launch of the Decommissioning scheme in February of this year is a key component in the delivery of the commitment for a voluntary fishing vessel Decommissioning scheme contained in the Programme for Government. This voluntary scheme will remove older and larger fishing vessels with mixed catches of fish such as cod, haddock, monkfish mackerel and herring. The removal of these vessels...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) monitors cetacean by-catches in fisheries in line with the EU Regulations which requires all Member States to implement observer schemes onboard their fishing vessels in order to monitor and gather data on incidental catches of cetaceans. The programme targets, in particular, fisheries where problems with cetacean by-catches are perceived to exist — such as...

Written Answers — Food Industry: Food Industry (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Irish seafood is in high demand; it is a healthy low fat, nutritious food source, which is in high demand both here and elsewhere in the EU and other markets. The Government approved strategy for development of the Irish Seafood Industry, Steering a New Course (the Cawley Report), contains a number of provisions set-out for encouraging and supporting the development of high value seafood...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: In November 2006, agreement was reached at the Fisheries Council on an EU Regulation on Electronic Recording and Reporting of fishing activity and on a means of remote sensing of fishing vessels. The new measures oblige fishing vessels to record and submit their logbook by electronic means at least once a day to the control authorities. Following strong pressure from Ireland, including a...

Written Answers — Fishing Industry Development: Fishing Industry Development (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: A new web based electronic system for the recording of sales of fish in Ireland has been developed. It is now a requirement that all, auction centres and buyers of first sale fish be registered under the terms of this regime, and submit sales notes electronically within 48 hours of the first sale of fish. Sales notes detail the size, weight, price and date of first sale fish, as well as...

Written Answers — Aquaculture Licences: Aquaculture Licences (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: Aquaculture licensing is regulated under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997 and a companion foreshore licence is issued under the Foreshore Act 1933 where aquaculture sites are located in coastal sites below the high water mark. The applications in question are at a very advanced stage of processing. It is important that I place the timeframe for aquaculture licensing in context. The...

Written Answers — Milk Quota: Milk Quota (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: The allocation of milk quota to new entrants has been a feature of the milk quota regime for a number of years. New entrants under 35 years of age received preferential access to milk quota from a specially created priority pool under the Milk Quota Restructuring Scheme until 2007, and the same priority pool arrangement continued into the Milk Quota Trading Scheme. It facilitates the...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: An application under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 3 May 2007. The position is that no Single Payment is due as the person named had not established any Single Payment entitlements as he did not benefit from any Livestock and/ or arable Premia payments during the 2000 to 2002 reference period. With regard to the Disadvantaged...

Written Answers — Agriculture Schemes: Agriculture Schemes (13 May 2008)

Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 358 and 379 together. The introduction of the Single Payment Scheme in 2005 has dramatically reduced the paperwork for farmers in applying for Direct Payments when compared to the previous system of submitting multiple applications under the Livestock Premia and Arable Aid Schemes. In addition, the Department is currently introducing an on-line application...