Results 12,841-12,860 of 23,995 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department publishes a wide range of forestry statistics on the Department's pages of the Government of Ireland website, including the number of farmers who have afforested, which is indicated below. Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 No. Farmers 852 652 536 309 206 100

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Common Agricultural Policy (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The SWOT analysis undertaken in the development of the RDP 2014-2020 drew on a range of information from within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and from external bodies and documents. The breadth of such analysis, from multiple sources, saw certain issues and factors categorised as more than one of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Such varied...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Common Agricultural Policy (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The planting of trees has the potential to play a significant part in our environmental priorities especially water quality, biodiversity and climate. My colleague Minister of State Pippa Hackett has announced her intention to explore how such planting along riparian margins could be promoted at scale. This would combine the best of our agri-environment measures, where over 1.5 million trees...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 294, 295 and 296 together. Any proposed planting of trees that is 0.1 ha or over in area is currently considered afforestation and must have an afforestation licence which must be applied for by a registered forester. The planting of small numbers of trees in an area less than 0.1 hectare is however is not a consented development and does not require to be...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The Results-based Environmental-Agri Pilot (REAP) is an innovative, ambitious and farmer-friendly pilot that will deliver an important income boost to participating farmers. While the project will support our environmental objectives, it will also support farm incomes by providing a maximum payment of €12,600 to participating farms over the term of their REAP contract. It is a...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The average timeframe from date of advertising to date of decision for the 76 afforestation licences which issued in April 2021 was 11.5 months.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The Department receives new licence applications and issues decisions daily. Our target remains the issuing of 4,500 new licences this year. Within that, there will be fluctuations within individual weeks and months. April was lower than other months for a variety of reasons but I expect May to show an increase and June to be higher again. Last week, the Department issued 101 new...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The Agriculture Appeals Office operates independently of the Department. I have been informed however that an appeal was received by the Agriculture Appeals Office on 31stJuly 2020 from the person named. The decision letter from the Department to the person named was dated 30thSeptember 2019 and, in accordance with the provisions of the Agriculture Appeals Regulations (SI 193 of 2002), the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The amount of ecology input required to approve a forest licence varies from application to application. Some sites are more complex than others depending on hydrological connections that might exists or the extent of potential interactions with qualifying interests and features of interest associated with the neighbouring European sites. Some applications screened in for appropriate...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: There are a wide variety of items available under the suite of seven measures under TAMS II. To date, total expenditure under the seven measures of the TAMS, including transitional expenditure, has reached in excess of €286m with commitments of an additional €157m made to scheme participants who have yet to draw down those commitments. The rate of grant aid is set at 40%...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: To highlight the importance of farm safety, the Government assigned my ministerial colleague, Martin Heydon, TD the specific responsibility for Farm Safety in his portfolio. The next CAP Strategic Plan is currently under development in the Department and it is through this that new schemes will be put in place. The SWOT and Needs assessment process has been completed and Health and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I fully acknowledge the important contribution bees make to agriculture and biodiversity as both pollinators and honey producers. In this regard, the Department provides a range of supports and initiatives to encourage and assist beekeepers and the national beekeeping associations. The Department is also a partner in the All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021 – 2025 and is a member of the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (27 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The Results-based Environmental-Agri Pilot (REAP) project is a short-term transitional measure which uses additional funding secured in Budget 2021 for farmers for this year. This necessitated a quick turnaround and I am happy to confirm that the project is on track despite the extremely tight timeframe. It has now closed and the Department is currently assessing the applications. ...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Common Fisheries Policy (1 Jun 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank Deputy Stanton very much for raising this issue and for giving me an opportunity to update the House on it. I saw the flotilla on the news coverage last week and I recognise the frustration among fishermen that led to it. I hope to address some of those issues here in the House tonight. The main points raised by the fishing industry during the demonstration on 26 May relate to: the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Common Fisheries Policy (1 Jun 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy. I will deal first with the final point, which was the respectful nature in which the fishermen made their protests and their point, and I want to recognise that as well. They certainly made their point very strongly. As I said in my opening contribution, any sector that has been impacted in the way they have, coming out of Brexit, where 15% of quota is to be lost...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (1 Jun 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: It is open to individual GLAS participants to contact the Department directly, in writing, to request an extension in relation to the planting requirements for the GLAS Wild Bird Cover action for this year. Requests will be examined on a case-by-case basis. GLAS Division can be contacted by email at glas@agriculture.gov.ie.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (1 Jun 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 529 and 530 together. Regarding the figures provided in Dáil question number 707 of 18thMay, the 1,937 ha are afforestation licences issued this year.  This figure is now 2,336 with the addition of more recent approvals. These licences have a validity period of three years. Therefore, they remain valid and financial approval may be sought any...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Data Protection (1 Jun 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The nature of the breaches experienced in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine since 2018 can be categorised as follows:  Disclosure (unauthorised); Paper lost/stolen; Phishing and,  Unintended online publication. Where appropriate, breaches are reported to the Data Protection Commissioner.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte Teoranta (1 Jun 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 532 and 533 together. The Department received 1,864 tree felling licence applications from Coillte in March 2021. Each of these applications was accompanied by information on harvesting and replanting. Coillte submit approximately 900 clearfell applications on average each year with details of the location of the site, the area, the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (1 Jun 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The audit carried out by the European Court of Auditors ensured that the process implemented by the Department was entirely in accordance with EU Regulations (with Article 42(5) of Regulation (EC) 1782/2003 and Article 7 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 795/2004). There were no findings in the final report concerning Ireland's implementation of the consolidation process.