Results 12,161-12,180 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rural Development Programme Funding (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: With respect, I am not going to confirm anything today until I have concluded an agreement with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform who is working with me on this matter and has been very helpful on it. This issue was a priority under the Irish negotiations and there is nothing to prevent Ireland from designing the kind of rural development programme and the funding we need. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rural Development Programme Funding (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: The option that Ireland can and will take is an ambitious option. I do not know where the Deputy is coming from when he said that we did not achieve our goals. We did achieve our goals in the negotiations. Ireland now has the capacity to choose the level of co-funding we want and other countries that want to choose lesser co-funding, for whatever reason, if they are in bailouts or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: If the Deputy and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will allow me, I would like to use the opportunity to correct the record on something I said a number of weeks ago in the House to Deputy Martin Ferris's colleague, Deputy Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin, where, unintentionally, I misled the House when I suggested in reply to a private notice question that Deputy Ó Caoláin had not contacted...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: -----whereby we are going to introduce an obligation to land everything the fishermen catch. Therefore, we need to balance the issues. If we simply have dramatic cuts to quotas, particularly for whitefish in mixed fisheries, we will increase the amount of discarding that takes place at a time when we are about to end the practice, through policy. This will be a very complex negotiation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: There will be some very positive news on this, particularly on the pelagic side but there will also be some challenges on the whitefish side. We will certain do our best for the industry.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: I can understand where the Deputy is coming from on this issue. There is much concern in the fishing industry, particularly in the whitefish fleet. Last year and the previous year there was also much concern going into the negotiations and we managed to renegotiate on the back of science a much better deal for fishermen than many had expected. I would issue a word of caution here....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: We are working intensively to prepare for next week's negotiations and put a case together that stands up from a scientific point of view but which can get a better outcome for the fishing industry. We will do everything we can to achieve that objective.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: May I come back in again?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy is right on his last point. There is a perception among some people who, in my view, do not understand the fishing industry that all fishermen just want to go out and catch as much as they can, and that they will catch whatever they can get away with catching. That is not the case. In recent years we have seen the fishing industry take a very responsible approach towards a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: It is important to say that but regardless of the pressures we must have a level playing field for everybody. I need to enforce the rules in order to be fair to every fisherman in the same way. One of the proposals - the Deputy expressed concern about this previously - coming into the negotiations is that when stocks are data poor, in other words if we do not have sufficient data to draw...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Payments (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. A number of farmers, particularly in the Deputy's county, are concerned about it. We have a problem we need to deal with. Since mid-summer, there has been a change to the way in which mapping is done technically. It allows us to be much more accurate in photographing land parcels across the country. As a consequence of this and the pressure the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Payments (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: It is important to send some very clear messages to farmers. First, we are not asking for any retrospective payments from farmers who have had a big problem. The only payments we decided we would try to reclaim retrospectively this year, in an effort to try to solve the problem, are from some farmers whose ineligible land amounted to less than 3% of their holding. The average farmer in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Payments (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: If the Deputy is concerned about individual cases, he should let us hear about them and we will consider them. On the broader issue, we have been working overtime since the summer to try to ensure that we can avoid the imposition on Ireland of significant penalties to which every farmer in the country would have to contribute, thus resulting in a quite dramatic reduction in my ability to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Fish Farming (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: I hope the Deputy will understand that I am somewhat limited in what I can say in response to his question. It is not worth reading out the official reply because it does not provide any information. I will, however, read out an information note that has been provided. The matter under examination by the European Ombudsman relates to EU pilot case 764/09/ENVI. In this regard, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Fish Farming (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: Two entirely separate issues arise. The first is the way in which Ireland manages its control protocols for sea lice. In my view, we do so to a very high standard. The second is a series of applications for aquaculture licences, which includes shellfish and salmon farm licences, and this is not confined to the application on which the Deputy continually focuses because it is politically...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Fish Farming (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: I expect this case to be clarified and closed in the next six or eight weeks and it is highly unlikely that I will make a decision on the licensing of any salmon farm in that period. As a former member of Cabinet, Deputy Ó Cuív will understand, or at least should understand, the legalities surrounding licensing processes and where responsibility and legal obligations lie. We are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences Applications (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: I am fully aware of what is proposed in the project in question. The proposal relates to a new type of salmon farming which would involve moving salmon cages further offshore into much deeper water. Based on this approach, it is proposed to allow larger-scale salmon farming to take place. The idea behind this type of salmon farming is to move projects out of special areas of conservation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences Applications (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: I do not think people should be criticised for ambition. If this project is doable, we have an obligation to consider it. If it does not make sense from an environmental or management perspective or because of sea lice or other technical issues, I will not allow it to proceed. A high bar must be crossed to get a licence for a project of this scale, or anything around salmon farming,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences Applications (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: On the final point-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences Applications (12 Dec 2013)

Simon Coveney: I accept the Deputy has raised genuine concerns, which I share and which is why we must be rigorous in our assessment of proposals of this nature. It is important to put Scotland in context. Scotland may not have farms that produce more than 2,000 tonnes but it produces 140,000 tonnes of salmon per year. Ireland produces 12,000 tonnes. It may be in Scotland's commercial interest not to...