Results 17,681-17,700 of 24,010 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (1 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine annually publishes the Helpsheet/Terms and Conditions for the EU Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)/Greening Payment and other Area Based Schemes. This document along with the Guide to Land Eligibility, sets out the conditions for land to be eligible for payment. Each applicant is responsible, in conjunction with their farm advisor, to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fishing Industry (1 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: As outlined in a previous response to the Deputy in Parliamentary Question No. 607 of 15 November 2022, my Department's records indicate that there are currently nine extant non-expiry Fish Culture Licences, which were granted under Section 15 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959. Section 15 was repealed by the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act and Fish Culture Licences are no longer...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Contracts (1 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department ensures that there is an appropriate focus on good practice in procurement and that procedures are in place to ensure compliance with relevant guidelines and legislation. EU and national rules promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers value for money. EU Directives declare that there can be legitimate reasons for awarding...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (7 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: 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. One of the conditions of the BEAM scheme under which funding was provided by the EU was that there had to be an element of reduction or...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Funding (7 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The Irish Harness Racing Association (IHRA) is a representative body for Harness Racing in Ireland. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) funded the Indecon Review of the Irish Harness Racing Sector at a cost of some €57,000 in 2017 and a five-year Strategic Plan for the IHRA at a cost of some €64,000 in 2018. In addition, from 2016 to date, grants totalling...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (7 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 178, 179 and 180 together. Ireland is a relatively small market in respect of fertiliser sales and their usage compared to many of our EU neighbours. As a result, Irish fertiliser companies are price-takers that are dependent on global fertiliser supply and demand, the cost of fertiliser production, increased transport costs and EU-imposed tariffs and duties...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Strategies (7 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 181 and 182 together. The Government has, as part of its decision on the Sectoral Emissions Ceilings in July 2022, committed to deliver up to 5.7 Twh of indigenously produced biomethane which represents ca. 10% of natural gas supply. This increased ambition from Climate Action Plan 21 is in recognition of the positive contribution that biomethane (renewable...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Harbours and Piers (7 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I announced that the Government had approved the Deep-Water Quay Project in Ros an Mhíl Fishery Harbour Centre in February this year. The Deep-Water Quay project will provide an additional 200m of quayside and over 70% greater depth to accommodate larger fishing vessels and attract additional landings from both Irish and non-Irish fishing vessels. In April, my Department appointed a...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (7 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The person named above applied for grant-aid under the Animal Welfare, Safety and Nutrient Storage Scheme which is a measure under TAMS II. He was approved for grant aid for Animal Housing, Circulation pipe and Mass Concrete Tank by letter dated 12th June 2020 and had one year to complete and submit a payment claim for all works. The applicant submitted an online payment claim and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: As the Deputy will be aware, I have committed to helping the cohort of farmers known as “forgotten farmers”. This has been a long-standing commitment of mine from the time that I was in opposition to the time that I entered the Government. I ensured that it was part of the programme for Government commitments, and I have been following through on it since. The Department has...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: There is no resistance and the commitment is crystal clear. For many years, there had been no commitment to these farmers. There was no proposal, plan or Government commitment to address them and to making sure that a scheme was put in place to reflect the fact that they did not get a fair crack of the whip. I made sure when I came out of opposition and went into government that it was a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I am engaged with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform around what will be required to deliver a scheme. That will become clear whenever we publish the application criteria and the detail around it, and not until then. What is clear at this point is the commitment from me to drive this forward and to deliver on it, as well as to deliver on the promise that I made to the forgotten...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. ACRES is part of the agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP strategic plan for 2023 to 2027. It is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers, when approved, will undertake certain actions on their land for at least five years. It closed last night and I want to recognise the massive work that has gone into the application process by the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: It will not be possible to open the scheme earlier next year because there are specific workloads throughout the year. This puts a massive workload on advisers and March-April is the key time of year for basic income support through the basic payment scheme, BPS, applications. We have worked closely with the advisers and their representatives on the window for applying for ACRES and on how...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy again for raising the matter. I have been pleased with the reaction to the ACRES scheme. It has been well received by farmers across the country. It was a key commitment from the two Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon and myself, representing three different parties, when we negotiated the programme for Government and went into government, to put a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Industry (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I thank all of those who participated in the food vision beef and sheep group as well as the stakeholders and representatives who participated in the food vision dairy group. As the Deputy will be aware, we have a 25% reduction in emissions to achieve by the end of 2030 from the agriculture sector as part of our overall contribution to achieving...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Industry (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I have received the two reports and at this point I am not cherry-picking different options or proposals within either of them in advance of making a final decision on all of them. That is all I am saying. My commitment to the suckler herd is clear and that is why I have increased the payments next year under the beef suckler scheme from what had been €90 on the first ten cows under...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Industry (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: There are no plans at the moment to introduce such a scheme. We have two reports: the food vision dairy group report, which has proposed a voluntary reduction scheme for dairy farmers that had significant support among a number of stakeholders on the group. Some of the farm organisations reserved their position on that. We have another proposal from the beef and sheep group on which there...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes, I will open up to new entrants next year because I want to ensure everyone who makes fodder or hay next year has the additional costs involved in that supported by the Government. As the Deputy will be aware, I launched the 2023 fodder support scheme on 2 November. The 2022 scheme proved to be successful with more than 71,000 applicants, with each of them due to receive an average...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (8 Dec 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I will deal first with the dairy farmers and then I will deal with the dry stock or livestock farmers who do not make hay or silage themselves. With regard to dairy farmers, my core objective for the scheme was to ensure that, as a country, we produced enough fodder to ensure we are fodder and food secure this autumn, winter and spring, and that every farmer would be supported in the...