Results 13,981-14,000 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Disadvantaged Areas Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: A review of the land parcels declared by the person named under the 2013 Single Payment Scheme revealed that some of the land parcels declared by the person named contained ineligible features. As the person named submitted an application for a review of my Department’s decision, a visit by a Department official to verify the position was necessary to progress the matter. This...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Banking (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: The details of banking charges paid, as requested by the Deputy, are set out in the following table: - 2011 2012 2013 2014 ( To 31/5/14) Charges € € € € Electronic Fund Transfers 20,487 13,665 12,520 21,556 Maintenance & Transactions 6,229 4,392 5,117 4,312 Total 26,716 18,057 17,637 25,868 The electronic funds transfer fees...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ministerial Responsibilities (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: The legislation, which is listed in the schedule below, refers to the statutory powers and duties which have been delegated to Minister Hayes in relation to Forestry, Horticulture, the Greyhound Industry and Food Safety under Statutory Instrument No. 371 of 2013. The legislation has been delegated in full and there is no other legislation which has been delegated to him. As Minister for...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: A review of the land parcels declared by the person named under the 2013 Single Payment Scheme revealed that several of the land parcels declared by the person named contained ineligible features. While this had an impact on payment under the Single Payment Scheme, as the person named was found to have more land after inspection than the maximum payable area under the Disadvantaged Area...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Identification Schemes (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: The requirement for cattle dealers to obtain a Certificate of Compliance prior to the movement of animals from their holding directly to another keeper was introduced from February 1st 2013. This requirement was already in place for many years for all other keepers moving bovines directly from their holding to another holding and was extended to dealers in order to ensure that movements of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Rural Environment Protection Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: The person named commenced REPS 4 in January 2010 and received payments for the first three years of their contract. REPS 4 is a measure under the 2007-13 Rural Development Programme and is subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before any payments can issue. Following the administrative check an area discrepancy was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: Next week's meeting will the final Council presided over by the Greek Presidency. Next month, Italy will assume the Presidency. As with all end of term Councils, the agenda is long. This reflects the custom at the end of each rotating Presidency to take stock of developments over the previous six months. The bulk of the items for discussion are progress reports outlining the state of play...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: There were reasons for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: I do not want to give the impression every country wants supply controls post-quota because they do not. The UK does not. The countries seeking more supply control post-quota in the instance of price volatility are essentially speaking about Commission intervention in a way which would limit the growth potential of countries seeking to expand. This is something we cannot support. The UK...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: Absolutely, once we send it in. It is very close to what has already been published.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: I have no issue with that in principle. The committee should know what I am sending to Europe. An environmental assessment is under way and we will engage in consultation at the end of this process, which will be Monday. We must try to take account of people's submissions and finalise the document by the end of the month. We also have a timescale for the Pillar 1 submissions on, for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: We will get it before the end of the year, but I will answer the Deputy's question in more detail shortly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: There have been many questions and I would like to try to answer most of them. I will give the official position on the €180 million as I am very annoyed about it. We had a clear understanding with the European Commission that this would not happen, and we intend to fight this vigorously. I believe we will be successful. My Department received a letter on 14 May from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: No, there is not. That is part of the problem. The Greek Presidency is trying to get agreement in principle here. Trying to define islands is one of the big problems we have had. I suspect that nothing significant will be decided next week, but let us wait and see. I will keep an open mind on it. On the issue of commonages and the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, I wish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: One must qualify to be an active farmer. Plenty of people will qualify on the basis of their activities, that qualify them as an active farmer, that is not on the commonage area. It will qualify them as an active farmer to get a payment in the commonage area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: The payments are split into two. There is a 75% payment and then a 25% payment which is the same as the other environmental scheme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: My understanding is that farmers apply to the scheme. Also, they cannot get any payments until it is shown they are eligible, they pass the necessary tests and we do the necessary inspections. They will then get a 75% payment and that will be followed by the 25% top-up payment after all controls have been completed. The guidelines were laid down by the Commission.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: Yes, and they make sense because we have to make sure that everybody is involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: We are looking to get payments out at the end of year 1. If we allow people into the scheme which will be-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture and Fisheries Councils and Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (10 Jun 2014)

Simon Coveney: No. We hope to launch the scheme at the end of this year. There will probably be a four or five month period in order to get everybody in or between 25,000 and 30,000 people. We will then have to go through a series of checks before we can pay out the 75% of payments. I hope that will be done towards the end of next year or at the very start of 2016. I think it will span that period....