Results 9,901-9,920 of 20,768 for speaker:Mattie McGrath
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: The Taoiseach made a mistake about the Killarney bypass. I hope he will brief himself on the agricultural situation because the programme for Government makes explicit commitments to supporting agriculture. This is a hardy annual: every year the slurry spreading deadline, 15 October, comes up. With so much bad weather this year, as in many other years, farmers cannot possibly empty their...
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: It is no laughing matter.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: That is what I said.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: The Taoiseach is passing the buck.
- Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: I thank the Taoiseach for coming.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: 35. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the schemes administered by his Department over the past two years that have been affected by payment delays; the length of these delays; the number of persons affected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41417/17]
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: I have been writing parliamentary questions and contacting the Department on behalf of farmers in Tipperary. There are many schemes in the Department but what is going on there? We are sick and tired of excuses. I am not here to bash the staff in the Department but I am here to stand up for the farmers in Tipperary who are rightly entitled to get their payments but are not getting them.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: We know all that money is paid and it is all very welcome but it is of little use or benefit to farmers who are struggling, who cannot get their payments or who are waiting. These people are contacting my office, as well as many other Deputies, and we are going back and forth to the Minister. The Department is blaming computer glitches and wrong information being inputted. That is...
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: The Minister is still a farmer. It is very frustrating that the blame is always put back on the farmer. The Minister is at it again today. If the Department gets it wrong it is a computer error, or an IT error.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: I am happy to move away from the script any day, and tell the Minister that, as a farmer, and without being flippant or smart, he should make sure that the farmers are paid and not blame computers. I can move away from the script any day. The Minister is reading out figures and quoting international best practice and telling us how highly we rank. That is little good to the farmers of...
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: The Minister is blaming the farmer again.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: I am not blaming the farmer. It is part of the terms and conditions of the scheme that farmers have to submit a nutrient management plan.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: It is too bureaucratic.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: Of course I know that.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: That is not true.
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Agriculture Scheme Payments (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: Rubbish.
- Other Questions: Animal Welfare (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: 40. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the costs incurred by his Department over the past four years in the seizure of animals, specifically horses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33110/17]
- Other Questions: Animal Welfare (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: I did not bring any script in case the Minister becomes confused or mixes up his own pages. What is going on regarding animal cruelty? I wish to know about the money the Minister's Department, and not the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment or any other Department, has spent in the past four years regarding the seizure, impounding and hosting animals, especially...
- Other Questions: Animal Welfare (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: In August, I asked the Minister and the Department to consider introducing more effective penalties to deal with the mistreatment and abandonment of horses. I spoke after the Minister told me in a reply to a parliamentary question that the Department had spent €4.5 million. Today, the Minister has said it is €4.3 million so €200,000 is missing. This is with regard to...
- Other Questions: Animal Welfare (3 Oct 2017)
Mattie McGrath: And hurling.