Results 14,741-14,760 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Yes, I think so. My understanding is that we are likely to spend our full Estimate this year. That has not always been the case and obviously the process is managed. My understanding is that this is the case. We have made savings in terms of food safety, animal health and so on. Let us consider TB, for example. I am unsure whether it was Deputy Heydon or Deputy Deering who said that we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is the case at the moment. We target resources, including for culling badgers. Herds are frozen, effectively, once there is an outbreak. We are trying to isolate problems, deal with them, slaughter the animals, compensate the farmers and deal with the wildlife issue, including badgers, and I know there is a potential issue with wild deer in the Chairman's area. We must take on these...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: I take your point, Chairman. If there are specific problem areas we will have to try to develop solutions for those problem areas.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The figure for BSE testing is rather small.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The figure is €1.25 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: We are still carrying out many testing programmes on carcasses to ensure that we are monitoring and on top of that, but it is down. The actual test is not a big expense; compensation is the main expense. Sorry; I am referring to TB. BSE testing represents small money. Deputy Deering asked me about the fodder crisis. Let us recall when the fodder crisis arose. It had been predicted...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Will the Deputy put that question again please?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: First of all, I would not accept that. I think there are more people working in those sectors now than there were before. I do not have an exact number on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: If one looks at the seafood and fish processing sector, there are more jobs now than there were before.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: I heard what the Deputy said. As regards forestry and agriculture, if one asks the CSO for clarification of its figures, it is not talking about the food industry but about primary sectors. There is a slight increase in the numbers this year, whereas last year there was a significant increase, although the same methodology was used. I am not suggesting that there is a massive flocking to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Farmers can look forward to an increased RDP spend every year for the next six years if we are going to get to an average spend of €565 million. However, we cannot go straight from €405 million to €565 million overnight, given budgetary constraints and the expenditure profile. It does show the success of negotiations around getting Exchequer co-funding for a rural...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: We are required to do certain things before we spend money that is co-financed from Europe. If farmers start work before getting approval, we cannot give them any money. There is an initial approval process and then there is an inspection and a whole series of form-filling, and quotations are needed from multiple contractors to ensure that farmers are getting value for money and so on. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: On what?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: I cannot give the Deputy a timeframe because until I get a timeframe for recommendations on my desk, I cannot make decisions and I am reliant on others to do that. That project has complications. It is a very big application. It is a new departure in some ways for salmon farming in terms of scale, and so it is coming under much scrutiny. I have said to the Deputy and to others in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Hopefully we will make some decision on it this side of Christmas, but the project has moved very slowly. To be honest, it has been very frustrating from my perspective.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The main component here is the disadvantaged areas scheme, DAS, but it is relatively straightforward. There will not be much change; it is moving from one CAP to another. However, the assessment of land under DAS will change in the coming years. Farmers who have genuinely disadvantaged land are the ones getting the payment. We will have some flexibility on that, as obviously there will be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: If I could correct myself, Chairman, the new biophysical criteria for what we call the DAS but which will in future be called ANCs, must be in place by the end of 2018, so there is a bit of time, but there is a huge amount of work involved in assessing land plots. There are also many difficult decisions to be made. One of the things I hope people will welcome in terms of differentiating...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is true.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: We have not differentiated between individual islands. Cape Clear is probably quite different from the Aran Islands, which are different from Beara, which is different from Sherkin. If we were to assess all of those islands and vary the payment depending on-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: That does not necessarily follow because there are lands that are not designated as disadvantaged at all, that are not overly productive either. We will first assess the level of disadvantage of land on the basis of biophysical criteria as we are required to do. Once we have this done, we can make further decisions.