Results 17,441-17,460 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: GLAS Issues (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I propose to take Questions Nos. 492 and 493 together. It is not possible, at present, to make decisions in relation to schemes implemented under the Rural Development Programme, including GLAS, until confirmation is available at EU level on the available budget and the timeframe for a transitional period. Ireland has pressed for the earliest possible adoption of these regulations, so...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: The approval and use of wood preservative products, including creosote products, is regulated under the EU Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR - Regulation (EU) 528/2012). Creosote is currently an approved active substance for use in wood preservative products. The current expiry date of the approval is 31st October 2020. It meets the exclusion criteria for the approval of active...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Exports (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: On 14 May 2020, my Department identified a suspected case of ‘Atypical BSE’ in a 14-year old cow as a result of its surveillance of ‘fallen’ animals – these are on-farm deaths which are sent to a collection centre (knackery) for sampling and destruction. On 22 May, confirmatory tests carried out at my Department’s Central Veterinary Research...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Reviews (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: Mr. Jim Mackinnon, CBE was engaged by my colleague Minister of State, Andrew Doyle, TD in July 2019 to review the forestry licensing approval process. Mr. Mackinnon, a former Chief Planner with the Scottish Government, had completed a similar report for Scottish Forestry. The review was informed by, among other things, discussions with a range of stakeholders including the forestry...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Funding (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I welcome the latest proposals from the European Commission for an increased CAP budget for the period 2021-2027 in the revised European Multiannual Financial Framework accompanying the new European Recovery Programme. I have long been opposed to the original Commission proposals for the CAP budget, announced back in May 2018, which proposed a 5% cut to the CAP budget post-2020. I have...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I am very pleased to be before the House to present the annual transition statement for the agriculture sector. The long-term challenge for the sector, as outlined in the climate action plan, is to meet the national policy objective of an approach to carbon neutrality which does not compromise our capacity for sustainable food production. That plan goes on to set out sectoral greenhouse gas...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I thank the Acting Chairman. I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Deputy McConalogue's remarks were interesting in the context of placing the Irish agri-food and marine sectors in an international context and of recognising that we are, by any international comparison, efficient from a climate perspective. That is not to say we are deaf to what is happening in the international...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for his contribution and for his questions, particularly those relating to the area of forestry. I sometimes despair about the general narrative around forestry because it seems to suggest that forestry policy is monolithic and insists on a particular species and a particular way of planting. The issues that, understandably, excite people in the context of...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: Deputy Durkan made an interesting point in the context of us being a food island that exports to over 180 countries and with a domestic market of approximately 5 million people. We have a capacity to feed almost 50 million people. That is important to emphasise because who should feed the world is part of a global debate. It is those who have a capacity to do it in the most sustainable...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: The direction of travel for Irish agriculture has been abundant for many years now. There has been a lot of commentary in recent times about a REPS-style support in the environmental scheme. That, in itself, tells a story. Long before the current debate around targets began, farmers were acutely aware of their role in landscape management and sustainable agricultural product and in many...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I thank the Deputy for her contribution and her questions. Her contribution seems to be based on a misconception that one can produce food without producing greenhouse gases. That is a biological impossibility.

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: What we need to do is maximise our efficiency and sequestration opportunities and look at ways we can displace non-renewable energy sources in the agrifood sector. That is where our focus has been, if the Deputy looks at any of the initiatives under the Department's aegis. Deputy Eamon Ryan referred to the Lyons Estate and a research project there. Who funded the research project? It was...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: What I am saying is that it is not possible to produce food without producing greenhouse gases. We need to make sure that everything we do is geared towards greater efficiency and sustainability. We cannot, and will not, give up our natural advantages in food production but we will do it as efficiently as possible. Many of the initiatives, therefore, that we have under way, for example in...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: Which food production?

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: It produces as well as sequesters greenhouses gases. It is a question of maximising the efficiency.

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I would be interested in seeing the Deputy's paper on the fact that there is no greenhouse gas production from horticulture, for example. That is not the case.

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I do not see much point in responding to the opening point the Deputy made regarding Covid-19 in meat plants, as I am on the record of the House on that issue already. Suffice to say, as I said then, that every individual who contracts Covid-19 needs to be treated in the best possible way by the health services and everything needs to be done to try and prevent the spread of the virus. The...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: It is very difficult to answer on many of these points when Deputy Naughten has chosen to limit the time in the way he has done. The research community and the Department work collaboratively with a host of partners. The research community is quite progressive regarding all the issues to do with climate and sustainability. I will give just one example of an initiative in research,...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I thank the Deputies. If I can paraphrase Deputy Nolan, she said that farmers deserve credit where credit is due. I echo that. I made the point earlier before the Deputy came into the Chamber that long before it became popular to talk about sustainability, farmers were on this journey, referenced by the fact that the much-lauded previous environmental scheme, the rural environment...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Michael Creed: I appreciate the contributions, which come from Deputies who represent rural constituencies and are aware of the endeavours farmers are making. They are also acutely aware of the fact sustainability is not a destination in itself but a journey. We might have thought we were sustainable ten years ago but we are more sustainable now than we were then, and I have no doubt that by 2030 we will...