Results 10,861-10,880 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Let us consider the actual instance of TB. The number of reactors in 2002 was just under 29,000. Last year, the figure was a little over 18,000. There has been a steady reduction. In 2010 the figure was 20,211, in 2011 it was 18,531 and last year it was 18,476. We expect that figure will be lower again this year. Deputy Deering may be looking at figures for the number of newly...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: That has been raised with me before. My understanding is that the Department has examined the matter. We have a system of testing for TB that is cost-effective and, I understand, accurate, but I am open to new ways of doing it. If we can do a more accurate job for the same cost or if there are ways of testing more accurately for TB then Deputy Deering should send me the details and I will...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: There were 31,705 farmers in the suckler cow welfare scheme. We have factored in that a significant number of those farmers will be interested in the new €10 million scheme because essentially they have to do very little. All they have to do is keep sending their breeding data to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation and give basic information such as calving problems in cows and the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: That is the number of applications processed under the old scheme. Payments were made amounting to €28.2 million to those 31,000 farmers. There is a good deal more than 31,000 suckler cow farmers in Ireland. The figure is closer to 80,000.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: No, not that I know of.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Yes.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: There is a capital increase from €441,000 to €1.49 million. I need to get the exact details but I understand the authority bought new rigs this year and some other equipment. I need to get the details for Deputy Ferris. I am unsure whether the officials have it here. Most of the difference is capital rather than personnel. There are no extra personnel in the Sea-Fisheries...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Which one is that?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Both the early retirement scheme and the installation aid scheme are closed.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: This is ongoing expenditure linked to decisions made years ago. As the years go on more and more people come out of the schemes or the schemes run out. We will continue to see the early retirement and the installation aid figures falling year on year.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Essentially, there is going to be an installation aid scheme through the CAP. It was designed and advocated for by Ireland at the start. We wanted young farmers under the age of 40 years to get a top-up payment on the single farm payment, which we had agreement on last week. Up until last week it was going to be voluntary in countries but we secured agreement that it would be mandatory. A...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: We have an issue with TAMS, in that it is the one area in my Department's budget where it will be obliged to change tack to ensure all the money is drawn down. This is because many of the TAMS programmes it had outlined simply have not had the funding drawn down. There have been some exceptions such as the pig loose housing investment programme, for which a lot of money was drawn down....

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: My understanding is that €60 million will be spent by 2015 and thus far, €20 million has been spent. Therefore, we have another €40 million to draw down.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Yes. The Deputy need not worry as that money will not be lost. However, ways must be found because TAMS requires farmers to spend money to draw down money. It is not like some of the other schemes in which money is simply handed out and farmers have been slow to borrow to spend to draw down grant aid.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: We are somewhat restricted but the Department is examining various options at present in respect of dairy expansion and potential drainage schemes. However, some of these schemes have knock-on consequences for other Departments, particularly those related to drainage. The Department is considering ways in which this money can be drawn down but hopefully, this will be a good news story in...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: On the last question first, I am familiar with Mallow Search and Rescue, which was very helpful at the time of that tragedy at Union Hall, as have been many other organisations, both on rivers and in respect of sea tragedies and drownings. However, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, plays a very different role. It is not primarily responsible for safety, which primarily is the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: This is something which it may be necessary to link with dairy expansion. If herd sizes increase, given the lessons farmers have learned over the past 12 months, they will be obliged to plan for keeping herds indoors for longer. That means more storage facilities and more fodder. That has investment requirements. That is in the mix in terms of TAMS.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: I am not sure about the Land Commission. The Land Commission is just storage of maps.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: It is €19,000. The early retirement scheme is due to run out at the end of 2016, so members will see it stepped down, just like the REP scheme is stepping down each year. We are making natural savings there, which is helpful given the fact that we must reduce budgets year after year. Hopefully, that will stop in the not too distant future and we will start increasing expenditure...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: A working group is looking at the definition of unenclosed land at the moment because it is not just an issue in Wicklow. I suspect it is an issue in Kerry and a number of other areas as well.