Results 13,721-13,740 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Grassland Sheep Scheme Expenditure (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is not true for all sheep farmers.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Grassland Sheep Scheme Expenditure (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: First, this has nothing to do with an election. That might be Deputy Ó Cuív's mindset but it is not mine. This is about putting in place a new CAP process around a redistribution of single farm payment and incorporating a sheep grassland scheme in the same way as when we decoupled headage payments for beef that became part of a farmer's single farm payment. Farmers got the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Milk Quota Issues (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: EU milk regulations, introduced in 1984, provide for maximum milk production limits for member states and in turn for farmers delivering milk. Milk produced in excess of the national quota is subject to a levy of 28.6 cent per litre, and this sum is levied on the relevant producers and remitted to the European Commission by the Department. In years in which the national quota is exceeded...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Milk Quota Issues (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: I share the concern of Deputy Ferris. We are taking the issue very seriously, which is why we have taken our time and undertaken a very thorough investigation. It is true that a number of parties are involved - a school, a large food processing company and a large farmer who was managing farming operations on behalf of the school. It has taken a while to get our head around the issues...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Milk Quota Issues (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: Yes. We are the competent authority to do that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Milk Quota Issues (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is unlikely. I will take legal advice on the matter from the Department and I will follow it to the letter. We have a pretty good understanding of what happened. There are consequences and we will enforce them but I am not in a position to give full details at this stage.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bord na gCon Remit (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: The Irish Coursing Club, ICC, has been the keeper of for the Irish Greyhound Stud Book since 1923. The stud book is the property of the ICC. Section 26 (2) of the Greyhound Industry Act 1958, provides that the ICC is subject to the general control and direction of Bord na gCon, which is the statutory body with responsibility for the improvement and development of the greyhound industry,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bord na gCon Remit (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: We discussed coursing in the context of the Animal Health and Welfare Bill. I hope the Deputy will attend our animal welfare conference next Friday; I understand she has been invited to attend. If she has not received an invitation, I extend the invitation now. We will consider the Indecon report on Bord na gCon and the greyhound industry, and if it makes recommendations in this area, I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bord na gCon Remit (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: It would not be correct to say that my Department has complete control of everything to do with animal welfare, but we certainly have taken on board much more than was previously the case, particularly with regard to horse welfare, where we have implemented a significant number of changes, and we need to continue to make appropriate changes because that issue is not yet fully resolved. There...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: Under the terms and conditions of the direct aid schemes, which include the single payment scheme and the disadvantaged area scheme, farmers are obliged to declare only eligible land when making their applications, ensuring they exclude ineligible features such as roads, buildings, farmyards and dense scrub. These claims are then recorded on my Department’s land parcel identification...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: Does the Deputy wish me to respond now?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: There is nothing new here. The Deputy is attempting to make a big new story out of something that we have been debating now for about nine months.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: I have always said that about 73% or 74% oF farmers are totally unaffected by this. There is a cohort of farmers, approximately 20%, who have a minor issue with regard to overclaims of less than 2% or 3% on ineligible land. The repayments those farmers must make are very small. The payments they did not get last year as a result of ineligible land are very small. There are also a very...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is not the point.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: This is about accuracy, public money being drawn down and land that was not eligible.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: I will not take a barracking from the Deputy. The Deputy is trying to spin this into some kind of anti-small-farmer agenda, which is absolute nonsense.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: I am giving the Deputy an answer, so he should listen. This is about public money being drawn down on land that was not eligible. We can see it is not eligible because of the accuracy of maps. The European Commission is insisting on asking for its money back plus penalties. For countries that cannot do that, it is applying very significant fines. I am trying to ensure we minimise the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: If any farmer feels he or she is being unfairly treated, there is an appeals system in the Department, which has been successful for farmers in terms of the percentage success rate so far, and there is a further appeals mechanism outside the Department if the farmer feels he or she is not getting fair treatment. That is about as fair as we can be. We will also look at the retrospective...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Single Payment Scheme Administration (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: I have answered the question.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (8 May 2014)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for this question. I think he knows we have already put quite a considerable budget in place in response to that storm damage, particularly from a construction point of view, within 115 harbours controlled and managed by local authorities. That was a total of approximately €9 million. We are putting a further €14.6 million in place for our own harbours this...