Results 17,281-17,300 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Livestock Issues (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: I recognise the vital economic and social role that livestock marts play in cattle and sheep farming in Ireland, and note the engagement between marts, their representative organisations and my Department, which has resulted in marts being permitted to conduct limited operations at this time. The restrictions arising out of Ireland’s public health response to the unprecedented...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Poultry Industry (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: I am acutely aware of the difficulties currently being faced by the affected poultry producers in this instance.  My Department has been and will continue to engage with representatives of the poultry sector, to seek to ensure that the current outbreak of avian influenza is dealt with in a timely and effective manner. With regard the development of a support scheme for the current...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: On 13 May, I attended a video-conference meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers with Agriculture Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski, and Fisheries Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevicius, to discuss the effectiveness of measures introduced by the Commission to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agriculture and fisheries. I welcomed these measures, which include, inter...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Food Safety Standards (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: Funding for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland is a matter for the Minister for Health.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fishing Fleet Protection (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: I announced on 8 May a Covid-19 Temporary Fleet Tie-up Scheme for fishing vessels in the Polyvalent, Beam Trawl and Specific segments of the fleet, to be implemented under Ireland’s European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Operational Programme 2014-20, co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union. The purpose of the scheme is to address the supply of  fish...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Welfare (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: The current list of essential services includes the provision of veterinary, animal welfare and related services. Where there is a clear and an immediate welfare issue associated with an individual dog which needs to be groomed/clipped, this may be dealt with on animal welfare grounds whilst adhering to an operational protocol that is in compliance with the HSE advice regarding hand and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Welfare (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: The current list of essential services includes the provision of veterinary, animal welfare and related services. Where there is a clear and immediate welfare issue associated with an individual dog which needs to be groomed/clipped, this may be dealt with on animal welfare grounds whilst adhering to an operational protocol that is in compliance with the HSE advice regarding hand and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Industry (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: The objective of the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) was to provide temporary exceptional adjustment aid to farmers in the beef sector in Ireland subject to the conditions set out in EU Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1132.  This aid was granted to provide temporary market adjustment support in response to a specific market disturbance as outlined in Ireland's...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: There are a wide variety of investment items available under the suite of seven measures under TAMS II. The financial allocation in respect of TAMS for the full Rural Development Programme period will be in the region of €395m. To date, total expenditure has exceeded €216m, with a further approximately €120m in commitments to farmers who have yet to make a...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Contracts (20 May 2020)

Michael Creed: My Department seeks to minimise the use of consultants and only engages consultancy companies when particular additional expertise is required for delivery of the services which support the business processes of the Department.  Such services are used in areas where the Department does not have the necessary expertise or internal capacity to deliver the services and where it would not...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: Since the start of this pandemic, the protection of public health has been the Government's overriding priority. The Government categorised farming and food production as essential services under the Covid-19 regulations. Irish food supply chains have continued to operate effectively to ensure the security of supply of safe healthy Irish food for consumers at home and abroad. In respect...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: In reference to the point Deputy McConalogue made about the Minister for Health, I remind the House that the Minister was present earlier, made a detailed statement on the meat plants and was available for questioning in that context. As my colleague, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation has confirmed, he identified 828 cases and 16 clusters in the meat industry. It is...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: Deputy Stanley has categorised all of this as a mess but it is easy to be a hurler on the ditch commenting on everybody else's best endeavours. With every individual who contracts the virus and every industry grappling with the consequences, there is a challenge. Everybody is doing their best, including those workers deemed to be essential by this House when it approved the regulations. It...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: The Deputy is more interested in grandstanding than getting information.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: I will reference some of the points that I have not had a chance to reply to yet. I am conscious that I am straying into the jurisdiction of the Department of Health, but it is my information that, as the Minister, Deputy Harris, put on the record today, the local HSE teams that dealt with outbreaks initially and the local and national outbreak control teams that were subsequently...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: -----is that management in plants are co-operating. Communication with plants has been a movable feast because there were different communications on 18 March, 27 March, 9 May, which was the protocol to which the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, alluded, 15 May, which was the first specific guidance to meat plants, and 19 May, entailing Covid-19 checklists, etc. There have been different...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: That was a wide-ranging contribution on Covid-19. If the Deputy would like me to give chapter and verse on what we are doing for the beef industry, I draw his attention, for example, to a simple item called the beef data and genomics programme, BDGP, aimed at improving the genetic merit of the herd, thereby improving its environmental and financial efficiency. That is just one scheme....

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: The impression has been created by Deputy Duncan Smith that this is a workforce dominated by migrant workers. He referred to 70% to 90% of them being migrant workers. We need to deal in facts. The largest ethnic group working in the meat industry here comprises Irish people. The overwhelming majority of people working in Irish meat plants are citizens of Ireland or other European Union...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: Deputy Cairns indicated that she wanted to ask me two questions. One was about the power of the beef sector and the other was about sustainability. I am not sure what the third was.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Michael Creed: I will be brief in replying. On the power of the beef sector, we have taken specific actions to try to redress the balance. The Deputy might be aware that we have been advocating for and have successfully established a number of producer organisations, for example. The constant refrain regarding the beef sector has been that when an individual farmer rocks up outside a meat plant, he is a...