Results 25,141-25,160 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: Yes, that is correct.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: We will come to that. I apologise for the confusion. Perhaps we should have been a bit clearer in that regard. Civil servants for the most part are civilians, but they are not considered as civilians in the Defence Forces. Some civilians assist or are part of the Defence Forces efforts.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: Yes. This subhead provides for the payment of all superannuation-type benefits by way of pension and gratuity to former members of the Permanent Defence Force and dependants. The subhead also provides for payments in respect of transference services. Expenditure under this subhead is demand-driven and non-discretionary. The amount provided in the original Estimate under subhead 2 for 2014...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: No, it is €210.62 million.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: Yes. The increased Estimate is essentially an extra €6 million, as we have discussed. There are some savings with some of the other subheads. The overall increase in the Estimate is €4.8 million. That is the net increase transferring from one Vote to another.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: Essentially, it is that we would be allowed to move €4.8 million from Vote 36 - the Defence Vote - into Vote 35, which covers pensions. There is not currently sufficient money in the pensions Vote. This is an unusual Department as there are two separate Votes. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine essentially has one Vote, although it is split between capital and...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: I thank the committee for the opportunity to attend. In truth, unlike most other Supplementary Estimates, as the committee will see in a few minutes, this is not the Department of Defence asking for more money. Essentially, this is about facilitating the movement of money within the Defence Forces to deal with an issue with Army pensions. Also, within the Defence Vote, this is about...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Supplementary)
Vote 36 - Defence (Supplementary) (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: Let me put things into context. I was appointed as Minister to this Department half way through the year. In my role as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine I know every single line of the Estimate because I have been involved in the preparation of the Estimates over a three year period. The Department of Defence has a really efficient finance team and I have learned a great deal...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Single Payment Scheme Payments (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: An application in respect of the 2014 Single Farm Payment/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 24 April 2014. Processing of this application is complete, payment under the Disadvantaged Area Scheme issued on 23 September 2014, the advance payment of the Single Farm Payment issued on 16 October 2014 and the balancing payment has issued on 1 December 2014. In...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Rural Environment Protection Scheme Applications (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: My Department has no record of the person named having been a participant in any of the REPS Schemes. However, he was approved for participation in the 2010 Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS 1) with effect from the 1stDecember 2010. Full entitlements have issued in respect of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Scheme years. In the approval letter which was issued by my Department in 2010, the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Single Payment Scheme Payments (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: The person named submitted a 2014 Single Farm Payment/Disadvantaged Areas’ scheme application on 25 April 2014. EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases Remote Sensing (i.e. satellite) inspections, be completed before any payments issue. The EU Regulations also require that where it...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Eligibility (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: The person named was approved for participation in the 2010 Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS 1) with effect from the 1 st November 2010 and full entitlements have issued in respect of the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Scheme years. A 1% penalty of €9.49 was imposed in 2011 for the late submission of the Single Payment Application. AEOS is not a whole farm scheme and payment is based...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Disadvantaged Areas Scheme Payments (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: An application under the 2014 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 16 April 2014. Payment has not yet issued to the person named as, at this stage, the holding concerned has not yet satisfied the Scheme’s minimum stocking density requirements. An official from my Department has recently been in direct contact with the person named to clarify the matter.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Milk Quota Cessation (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy may be aware, the related issues of milk quota abolition, the “soft landing” and the butterfat coefficient correction have been the subject of much discussion at EU level over the recent past. Milk quotas will be abolished from the end of March 2015 and I have been very active in seeking to secure further measures to ensure a soft landing for milk producers in the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Single Payment Scheme Payments (3 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: An application under the 2014 Single Farm Payment was received from the person named on 14 April 2014, processing of this application is now complete and payment will issue to the nominated bank account of the person named in the coming days.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sea-Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: Deputy Harrington speaks to me about these issues all the time. He is right in that the industry is taking a very responsible approach and accepting a number of proposed cuts. As it happens, some of those proposed cuts would have seen very big increases either last year or the year before in the case of herring, for example. Fishermen realise that if they take hard medicine when they need...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sea-Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: We swap with the French all the time and sometimes we do so for species where we have a big quota in order to get a crucial quota in the likes of monkfish and prawns. We do it every year and the person sitting on my left is probably the most experienced international negotiator on swaps that I can think of. A good job is quietly done every year to try to ensure we get a little more fish in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sea-Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: If the committee writes to the Commission in advance of the December meeting, which would be a good idea, there are a number of issues to mention. The committee can take the advice in whatever fashion it likes. The committee can ask the Commission to take on board the most up-to-date science but, more importantly, there are politics involved. In trying to introduce a radical change in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sea-Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: My record in this area is fairly clear.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sea-Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Dec 2014)

Simon Coveney: Just in case there is any doubt, there is an extremely strong commitment to this industry by the Government parties. We are preparing meticulously for the negotiations. My experience in Europe, which is limited, is that one has to make one's case on the basis of science rather than on the basis of emotion, but also on the basis of the social and economic consequences of decisions, and that...