Results 10,041-10,060 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sugar Industry (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: At the outset, I provide the Deputy with the background to this issue. The EU sugar regime underwent a radical reform in 2005 following major EU decisions to restructure the industry. A temporary restructuring scheme was introduced with the aim of reducing EU sugar production. Greencore, the holder of the entire Irish sugar quota, availed of this voluntary scheme, dismantled its facilities...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sugar Industry (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: I am aware of the ongoing work by Beet Ireland and the negotiations that have been taking place with the owners of the Lisheen Mine site. It is a very exciting project which I would love to see happen. My role as a Minister is to facilitate an end to sugar quotas as soon as possible or, if there is an extension of quotas beyond 2017, to ensure Ireland is allocated a quota to permit the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sugar Industry (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: These are fair questions, but it is important we do not run before we can walk. The first thing we must do is ensure Ireland either has a quota or can produce sugar in the absence of EU quotas. At present we can do neither. After I came back from the Council of Ministers having sought agreement on the CAP, I said sugar production was the most difficult issue on which to get agreement for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: The negotiations on CAP reform have moved to discussions between the EU institutions and an intensive schedule of trilogue discussions with the European Parliament and European Commission commenced on 11 April. Up to today, 11 trilogues have taken place - three each on direct payments and rural development, four on the single CMO and one on the horizontal and financial management proposal....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: The schedule for implementation is that we will try to reach political agreement by June on what the new CAP reform package will look like for the next seven years. The Commission will then spend the second half of the year turning it into regulations to make it real and implementable. Countries will put together plans for their own CAP reform package given the toolbox and the flexibility...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: I am answering it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: Countries will be given 12 months to put new systems in place in order that the new CAP can begin in 2015. The schedule has been in place for the past eight months. If the Deputy had been following what had been happening, he would know that and would not have to ask.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: There is no surprise for farmers. We knew for about eight months that the new CAP would not be up and running until 1 January 2015. The Commission has accepted this. I do not want to be accused of not answering the question. In the past two weeks the Commission has brought forward a proposal on how things will work in 2014, essentially under the old CAP policy but on the basis of a new...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: Which option?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: I need to understand them. Which greening option is the Deputy talking about?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: Does the Deputy expect me to answer all of those questions in one minute? If so, I will try.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: With regard to what the position will be in 2014, we must look at what we can afford to do with the available budget. I will make those decisions around budget time. There will be a new rural development scheme post-2015 that will involve environmental schemes and others. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív always sees this in simple terms of just giving out money and being as popular as he...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: No, that is how the Deputy sees it. We must act strategically with public money and get value for money in how we spend it, whether it be on environmental or other schemes. With regard to minimum payment, there is an agreed Council position. All 27 countries signed up to providing an option for countries that would not include a compulsory minimum payment. The Commission wants a minimum...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: With the exception of Slovenia and Slovakia, 25 countries supported our alternative option for countries. That is the position, regardless of how the Deputy tries to undermine it. He should look at some of the debates that take place in the Council so he can understand the different positions countries have taken. We have a Council position that is representative of what the countries,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: I am defending a position that the Council agreed, which was a compromise among Ministers.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Reform (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: This is a very good question about the impact a failure to agree the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, might have on the proposed CAP reform. As holder of the Presidency, we are trying to finalise the European budget with the European Parliament, which must approve it, before the end of the Irish Presidency. We are also trying to conclude CAP reform and the Common Fisheries Policy,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Reform (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: The member states that contribute to the EU budget have already made a decision on how much they are willing to spend for the next seven years. That is very unlikely to change. Extra money is required to complete the budget for 2013 and how to deal with that and where the money will come from are under negotiation at present. The European Parliament is also seeking some other...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Reform (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: That is exactly what the negotiations are about, how to redistribute within a country and the flexibility to be given to countries while at the same time ensuring there is significant redistribution. We do not want a figleaf with regard to the redistribution of money. There are people who got a raw deal under direct payments in the past, because of their position during the years when...

Other Questions: Aquaculture Development (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: The Irish Seafood National Programme 2007-2013 is a framework programme under the national development plan covering supports to the seafood sector that are not co-funded by the EU. Most support to the seafood sector is co-funded by the European Fisheries Fund and is covered by the Seafood Development Programme 2007-2013. Financial supports for the construction, installation and...

Other Questions: Aquaculture Development (8 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: No. Bord Iascaigh Mhara is a semi-State body responsible for the development of the seafood sector. This includes salmon farming, other elements of aquaculture, wild sea fisheries etc. The body has applied, in its name, to develop a large salmon farm in Galway Bay. As the Minister who makes the decision under licence, I will have a very detailed set of recommendations on the application...