Results 13,941-13,960 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: I appreciate the opportunity to present this request for a technical Supplementary Estimate for 2018 in which I am seeking the committee's approval to use savings on the Department's Vote to fund other desired expenditure and for approval for additional funds to support the agri-environment schemes and the fodder schemes. As these proposed transfers and expenditure involve significant...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: I do not have a lot of the technical details with me so I will work from memory and Deputy might bear this in mind. My recollection of the figures I have seen are that in 2017 there were approximately 56,000 carcass examinations; there were no penalties in 2015; in 2016, 28 penalties were incurred; in 2017 there were none; and, to date, in 2018, 20 or 21 penalties have been incurred. There...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: From the figures I have quoted, yes.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: I will provide some additional information. A total of 33 plants are the subject of departmental monitoring. There will be additional staff allocated to that function in early 2019. That will be done during the first quarter of the year.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: Where is Deputy Pringle getting those figures?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: The figures we are quoting on the emissions profile in agriculture are, I understand, from the Environmental Protection Agency. They are credible figures.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: They are credible.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: We are conscious in the Department of the obligation in the sector to address the emissions profile in agriculture. Under the targeted agricultural modernisation schemes, we have funding available. Deputy Pringle mentioned ammonia. That is one area where we are significantly challenged because our ammonia emissions are virtually at the ceiling. We are grant-aiding low emissions slurry...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: Some are being implemented. For example, €100 million per year is available for afforestation.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: Some have been successful. Under TAMS, we are funding low-emissions slurry spreading, which is dealing with ammonia production. Through Teagasc, we are encouraging participation in grassland management. The problem for us is that every five years or so a major opportunity comes around to engineer programmes under the Common Agricultural Policy. For example, under the green low-carbon...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: We are.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: Under GLAS, we have planted thousands of kilometres of hedgerows. Under BDGP there will be journey to improve the genetic merit of the beef herd.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: Nobody on this side of the table is arguing that we do not need to do more. We are engaged in discussions concerning the next round of the CAP. There will be an opportunity in the next rural envelopment programme to accelerate that journey with financial support for farmers.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: Of course we do, and unlike many other sectors we have been proactive in this space. Our current rural development programme is significantly skewed in the direction of climate support measures.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: As a consequence our dairy industry is the most carbon efficient. Nobody disputes this.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: It means that if a consumer buys 1 l of milk or 1 kg of cheese, skimmed milk powder or infant formula produced by the Irish dairy industry he or she can be assured that it is produced far more efficiently per unit of output than in any other country in the world, with the possible exception of New Zealand, which is similar to us.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: I ask the Deputy to let me finish this point because it is important. This is a global challenge. The Paris Agreement, which our sector must reflect, calls for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions without compromising food production. We face a fundamental question. There are those who advocate dismantling the national herd and in many respects dismantling the rural economy based on food...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: I am not arguing-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: Our journey has been one of progressive improvements. It has involved committing hundreds of millions of euro taxpayers' money to assist the industry on that journey, inside and outside the farm gate. We accept that we need to accelerate that journey, but we are starting-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Creed: We are starting from a position of being the most carbon-efficient dairy producers. Can we do more in the dairy industry? Absolutely. Will we do more? Yes. Should we do more? Undoubtedly.