Results 15,341-15,360 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Fish Farming (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: Deputy Ó Cuív is correct but the evidence is that I have not granted a single salmon farming licence in three and a half years. He seems to be accusing me of being a patsy to the industry who waves licences through. Not one such licence has been granted. Only in the shellfish sector have licences been granted because we are putting in place a system that works, unlike the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy is aware, there is a commercial preference at UK retail level for simple origin labelling bearing the name of a single country of origin only. It must be recognised that this commercial purchasing strategy has facilitated the sale in major UK retail outlets of large quantities of beef from cattle born, reared and slaughtered in Ireland. However, it adversely affects the market...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: It is important to record that certainly from my experience at any rate there was no intervention of any substance from a CEO of any processing company here.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: Not that affected the discussion on this. I have had repeated discussions with Tesco on this issue. I have had Tesco representatives in my Department where we have had long meetings on this and other issues. We had a meeting with the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium whose representatives made it very clear that it was its members who decided, for the moment anyway, that because they...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: It does not.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: We have looked into that accusation and put systems in place to ensure factories do not have access to inappropriate information.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: With all due respect, if we are going to make accusations, we need to have evidence to back them up. I am not saying it has not been a difficult year for beef farmers, it has. That is why I have been involved intensively throughout the summer with farming organisations and factories to try to change the structure of the sector. There has been a fractious and difficult relationship between...

Other Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: We are doing many things to safeguard the industry. I have just been talking about that.

Other Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: For a start, this Government has prioritised the beef industry in each of the past three budgets. Next year alone in terms of the rural development programme, we will be putting about €73 million directly into the beef and suckler beef sectors. We have designed a rural development programme specifically to prioritise the beef sector to ensure it gets the supports it needs. If one...

Other Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: With all due respect and not for the first time, the Deputy outlines what he thinks of as a big problem but gives no solutions to anything.

Other Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: First of all, one can only deal with something if it exists.

Other Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy's opinion on whether there is a cartel is only relevant if he can provide evidence to me or the Competition Authority that a cartel does operate. The Competition Authority has looked at this in the past and has deemed that no cartel exists. The authority has received evidence from farming organisations in recent years, has looked at it and has said that there is insufficient...

Other Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: As part of beef forum proposals, we publish beef prices in all factories at different grades on a beef price app every week so that we can see that there are different prices in different factories in different parts of the country at different times. If there is evidence around a cartel rather than a political accusation, let us hear it. In the meantime, let us solve the problems we...

Other Questions: Beef Industry (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: If the Deputy is so convinced a cartel exists, he might provide some evidence of it. That is all I have to say because every time I ask for it, nobody ever produces it. Our beef industry operates in an international competitive environment. We sell product into about 70 different countries. We sell product right across Europe. The Deputy should not suggest for one minute that the...

Other Questions: Commonage Areas (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for this question. I know there are many commonage farmers in his constituency so he knows a lot about this issue. The farming of commonages lands has a long tradition in Ireland and, by its very nature, is a complex area. There are issues about the legal right to claim and there have always been disputes about the grazing of the commonages. In the vast majority of...

Other Questions: Commonage Areas (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is a very fair point. We are trying to introduce a basic minimum stocking rate that everybody has to apply. However, in many commonage areas we want to encourage farmers to put considerably more stock on it. The stocking rate is about proving a minimum level of agricultural activity. I hope everybody agrees that we should focus our financial supports on active farmers as opposed to...

Other Questions: Commonage Areas (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: While I understand what the Deputy is saying, there is another consideration - the accuracy of mapping. On many occasions we have discussed in the House the problems we have had with the new LPIS whereby we now have more accurate imagery of land than we have ever had before. As a result of that accuracy, the Commission has deemed that Ireland effectively owes it €181 million in terms...

Other Questions: Food Exports (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: The Russian ban on agricultural products from the EU came into operation on 7 August. Russia is the second most important destination for EU agrifood exports. These exports are valued at just under €12 billion based on trade in 2013 and the products covered by the ban are valued at more than €5 billion, representing 43% of the EU’s trade in agricultural products to...

Other Questions: Food Exports (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: They are all relevant points. There are issues around products that we could, and should, still export to Russia, which are not covered by its embargo, as they call it, or ban. For example, even though milk powders are banned, dairy ingredients products and casein are not banned. There are similar issues for other sectors. However, further restrictions apply to Ireland because of...

Other Questions: Food Exports (12 Nov 2014)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy is spot on. One of the main dangers is that there has been attempt by some in the Commission to transfer unspent money in the agriculture budget to other non-agricultural expenditure programmes. We have been seeking additional money for agriculture to deal with this problem because it is primarily a foreign affairs issue and there is a risk the agriculture budget could be raided....