Results 121-140 of 152 for speaker:Natasha Newsome Drennan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: TB Eradication Programme: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: Why were they culled? What was the story there?

Select Committee on Agriculture and Food: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Further Revised) (18 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: But this year the Minister is saying that the payments for the hectares have gone up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: I thank the witnesses for coming in. ACRES obviously is a massive issue but as with any new scheme, issues come with it on the Department's end and on farmers' end. Is it not a stage where the Department knows a scheme is coming in and there will be IT and administrative issues? It really would be better to hold off longer. The Department knows a scheme is going to be up in 2027 and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: The issues with the payments were not down to money but to IT issues. However, we know that going ahead, for 2025 the scheme is €74.6 million short on last year's money. Where is that going to come from? Are we going to see more issues? Are we going to see worse issues when the money is not there to meet the demand?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: The total budget for agriculture is already down a small bit. Money for ACRES has been taken out and put into organic farming, young farmers, all of these other schemes. For the farmers who went into the ACRES scheme in good faith and with all the issues that have been there already, I just cannot understand how that has been cut. It is ridiculous.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: According to the figures I received, the funding is down by that much. The whole figure is down as well. What we see is money going into other sections. The money is less than last year and we have 300,000 ha added into the scheme as well. It seems the Department needs more, not less.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: With TAMS, it is not reachable for every farmer to come up with the money first before receiving the 60% under the scheme. With all the storms we had, where our electricity was gone, I would like to see better supports for the idea of harvesting water and having extra schemes. Due to the issues throughout the country with the storms, will there be anything better done on this end?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: Is there an upfront amount that could be paid back or something like that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: Those who had problems were not even all elderly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: With the figures the officials gave us for ACRES for 2023, there are 278 farmers who got nothing. I am assuming that is what that means. They got no payment at all. Out of those, how often was the issue with the farmer and how often was it with the Department? I am assuming if you got paid in 2024 you had no issues, but how many of the 278 who were at fault have been contacted? Has the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: It is not a part the farmer has forgotten to do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: Is it only recently the people affected like that have seen it flagged that the officials are trying to do this or was it flagged back in December 2023 that the Department has an issue here?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: Then once that is cracked they will get their 2024 payments and it will all flow in together.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: A lot of the schemes finish in 2027. With new schemes going forward, how does Mr. Savage see the administrative and IT sides of this being worked and worked smoothly so farmers actually understand it and the Departments understand it as well? New schemes get complicated as they go on. How does Mr. Savage see it being fixed so we do not have these issues in future?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: Whose fault is it that everything has run so quickly and as if we do not have any time left? With the next system it needs to be better and to be there in advance. Whose fault is it that these schemes come out and are thrown at people at the last minute?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: That is not good enough, though.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: 24. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the funding allocated to date for each phase of the Waterford to Glenmore road scheme; the amount of funding drawn down to date; and the amount of funding not drawn down; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34588/25]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: 25. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the funding allocated to date for each phase of the Kilkenny northern ring road extension; the amount of funding drawn down to date; the amount of funding not drawn down; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34589/25]

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (25 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: 168. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will commit to funding a community neuro-rehabilitation team for the south east in this Budget 2026 in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government to complete the nationwide roll out of community neuro-rehabilitation teams as a team for the south east was promised in 2019, since then no funding has been...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Sports Funding (24 Jun 2025)

Natasha Newsome Drennan: 478. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment how organisations in Ireland south can access the Creative Europe culture strand funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34334/25]