Results 21,721-21,740 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Yes. I have until 1 p.m.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: I am in your hands. Whatever way you want to do it is fine by me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: I will go through it quickly and then we can move on to questions. I am very pleased to accept the committee's invitation to this hearing. This is a valuable opportunity to review how we are progressing with the various challenges and opportunities presented across the various sectors in agriculture, food development, marine and forestry and to talk about market prospects across these areas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: We will look at it but it is a very busy time between now and the budget for us. That is the problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: This was supposed to be a two-hour meeting. We have been unfortunate because of votes and other things.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: I can give the Deputy a very detailed explanation for those figures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Let me give a verbal response first and then the Deputy will understand.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: It is not that little any more.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: I will start by responding to the questions put by Deputy Ó Cuív. The export of Irish food, a trend that started about six years ago, has kept going. We have increased our exports to France by 21%; to the Netherlands by 43%; to Germany by 34%; to Belgium by 23%; to Sweden by 15%; to Denmark by 43%; and to Poland by 72%. One or two member states, Italy and Spain are down a bit...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Both.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Let me answer the question and we will come back to Deputy Ó Cuív again.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: I am coming to that. I am trying to give complete answers, if that is all right. The answer is that both volume and value have contributed to the increase, but more value than volume.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: No, it is not just price. When one sells infant powder rather than skimmed milk powder-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: -----it is value one is increasing, not just price. There seems to be an attempt by Deputy Ó Cuív to dismiss this and say that world prices have gone up and that explains all the figures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Premiumisation and value added is what we are talking about.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: What I am saying is that the biggest driver around the increase in value of food and drinks exports in Ireland has been the premiumisation of product and value added; increased price, in some areas, although there have been decreases in prices in some areas as well; and dramatic increases in volumes. There have been dramatic increases in volume in whiskey, for example. Some 6 million cases...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: First, it has not happened yet, so we cannot give definitive answers on that but I anticipate that the current herd number will be able to produce between 15% and 17% more milk. That is the estimate we have. In other words, we can improve the yield per cow significantly. Many NGOs, in particular, that talk about concerns around emissions and climate change miss this point. The Irish dairy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Yes, that is what we are trying to do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (30 Sep 2015)

Simon Coveney: Yes. There will be some spillover on GLAS payments from this year into next year, but that is the norm. The priority for farming organisations and farmers is always to get the maximum number of people in. If we have to split it between December and January to span two accounting years as regards Estimates, then we try to manage that as best we can. On the capital programme, I am glad to...