Results 20,241-20,260 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: No, because effectively the GLAS scheme is those with hen harrier scheme designated land.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: The GLAS scheme is not overly onerous for hen harrier farmers. I have met them at public meetings and they are very happy with the scheme. The numbers applying suggest they are happy with it. The reason some of the larger land owners did not apply was that they were worried that if they did, they would be excluded from a future scheme. We have reassured them that they will not be. In...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: We will not itemise them. The World Food Programme receives funds from other countries specifically to feed certain people in certain camps. The reason it is so appreciative of what Ireland is doing is that we give it flexibility to choose to spend where there are gaps. We will not prescribe the camps it which it should spend the money, but I have made it very clear that I would like to...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: It is also worth saying to farmers, if they are listening, that this is money that is not being taken from their budgets. We simply would not have this money if we were not spending it on the World Food Programme. It is part of Ireland's overall development aid contribution. In case farmers think we are taking it from the moneys for areas of natural constraint, ANC, or the beef genomics...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: If the Deputy looks at last year's profile-----
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: No. I will answer the question. Last year the spend from January to November was €942 million, this year from January to November it is €958 million. A huge amount of expenditure goes out from the Department in December and it is no different this year. That is what will make up the difference between what is currently spent and what needs to be spent by the end of the year...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: Yes. That is what I am being told.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: Let me try to answer that. It is not an unreasonable question. The profile, which is the best estimate of the timing of expenditure when drawn up in January, which is the start of the year, is difficult to forecast and actual expenditure, as we clearly see, may vary significantly during the year for various reasons, such as levels of payments under demand-led schemes, the pattern of...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: Let me give the Deputy some figures.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: All right.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: Yes. Let me give some of the explanations I have here and we will send the Deputy the details for which he asked. On TAMS, the spending was €7.5 million less or just under that, on forestry, it was €6.8 million, and on eradicating TB brucellosis, it was €10 million less but that is a good news story. The main one is on the agri-environment option scheme, for which the...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: Yes. It is behind but there is a reason for that.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: It was based on the Estimate. I will ask my colleague to explain that.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: To be clear, that €58 million applies to GLAS in terms of €20 million. I take it that it is these figures underneath.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: The breakdown for the schemes is: GLAS, €20 million; AEOS, €38 million; and REPS is down 2%. That is a far smaller figure.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: We will explain these three figures.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: People should bear in mind that when we go with a payment run a great deal of money gets distributed in a short period. That is the nature of these schemes, be it the basic payment scheme or GLAS. We always said that under the new GLAS in the first year we had budgeted €20 million. Obviously, when GLAS is fully up and running it will spend approximately €240 million and...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: No, we had hoped to start payments in GLAS in November and December. That was the plan. The story on GLAS in respect of getting it approved, getting people in, getting them approved and then getting payments out before the end of the year was always going to be challenging. The fact that we are going to meet our target by the end of the year points to a great success story. At the start...
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: With respect, it is a little more complex than that.
- Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015) Simon Coveney: I am not going to give any commitment one way or the other on that. We have a new farmers' charter now. We have a very good relationship with farming organisations. We will discuss these things as they arise. I am not going to be bounced into a decision.