Results 2,001-2,020 of 14,090 for speaker:Marc MacSharry

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: It seems bizarre that the Department did not receive that level of applications. Farmers are not renowned for hiding behind the door when it comes to accessing available supports.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: Are we being imaginative enough? Are we being the best boys in the class when being middle performers in a European context would be a better approach from our perspective? Perhaps we are sometimes too literal. It is not a case of bending or breaking the rules, but perhaps we are too eager to match the parameters laid down by Brussels.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: That is comparing apples and oranges. We are also the only country to have counties such as Sligo and Leitrim. We are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with have small holdings and bad land and are very dependent on the suckler herd and so on.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: What is meant by restructuring of a herd?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: It is a European problem. It is like telling a fisherman that we will give him money to survive this year, but we will take his fishing rod next year and he will not be able to fish. Farmers are engaged in the production of food. I will come to the fact that we are giving €20 million to the World Food Programme at a later stage. Under the cover of an emergency in the industry, we...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: I have no difficulty bashing the Commission. If it is being over-zealous in designing supports or parameters, it is perfectly legitimate for us to criticise it. If it is the fault of the Commission that the parameters are so narrow, it certainly deserves to be bashed. The accounts note a significant number of lands held by the Department. This is a matter I raise with other Departments....

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: There is no current valuation for any of these properties.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: Are the fisheries harbours noted at the end of the accounts?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: In addition to land and buildings, six fishery harbour centres are vested in the Minister.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: The other 20, 30 or 40 holdings have not been valued.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: One could hardly call Haulbowline Island a small patch of forestry.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: How the hell does that work?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: How can the Department temporarily own something?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: How can one temporarily own something?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: Mr. Gleeson's Department currently owns Haulbowline.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: That is it. There is no such thing as temporary ownership until the Department sells it to whoever wants it next.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: Did it cost approximately €20 million?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: It is poor practice for us not to value such matters. I do not accept that the Department could not be going around the whole country doing valuations or that valuations could be out of date the following week. That is not good. What does the Department do to ensure that the property's title is clear? I refer to issues that might arise due to squatter's rights or unscrupulous people...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Marc MacSharry: Mr. Gleeson thinks I will drop a bomb and ask where the 300 acres that have been taken over by such and such are. I will not do that, however. There are 40 holdings, some of which are small, but I would hazard a wild guess that nobody from the Department has walked near them since the Land Commission gave them to it 100 years ago. It is quite likely the assets have been lost to the State...