Results 2,541-2,560 of 7,788 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I presume in most of Ornua's contracts, as there always has been on contracts down through the years, that if something happens relating to inflation or transport costs, there is room that gives a chance to renegotiate the price. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I presume there is flexibility in some of Ornua's three-year contracts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: There is a cushion, and Mr. Kelly is correct that if the fuel price goes up for the supplier, there is a cushion for Ornua. However, the fuel price has gone up, the fertiliser price has gone up, and the electricity cost has gone up for the farmer, and Ornua has not moved to help them. I know the witnesses are going to say “It is not us and we have it with the co-ops”, but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Would Ornua be prepared to take the 2023 proviso out of this? If, as Mr. Jordan said, there is a 10 cent difference, there is room for the people on the contracts to get, say, 7 cent, 8 cent or 10 cent, and to take this other clause out of it. Is Ornua prepared to make a goodwill gesture like that for those farmers, given the situation they are in at the moment, when it might resolve an issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Ornua can turn around next year and bring out its new thing for the next three years. What is the point of bringing out a new scheme? Let us suppose they say they are not going down that road. What is the point of offering a new scheme next year if the chalice is poisoned and we end up in a situation where every farmer says “I will never go near that again.” It is no good to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I would advise farmers not to go into it if this is the way they are going to be treated. That is straight out, and they will hear it here today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have a suggestion, if it is acceptable to the committee and with the goodwill of Ornua. If there are eight co-ops, we should not have one front such as Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, ICOS, coming before us. If 600,000 l have gone somewhere and we do not know where, we need to meet the CEOs of the eight co-ops and drill down into the matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am sorry; 600 million l to 700 million l. It is 1 billion l altogether.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: If the committee is willing, we must hold such a meeting within a month, before the holidays. With all due respect to the Ornua representatives, whom we thank for coming in, we should bring in the CEOs of the individual co-ops to answer the questions if they are prepared to come in. This has to be nailed down for the farmers or we are going to be in bother. Perhaps we could work on this in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have one last point to make. Would the Ornua representatives be prepared to go back to their board? As I have said, I am not an expert on this but this proviso of 23 keeps coming up. Would they prepared to go back to the board to try to work out a solution with regard to the percentage so that Ornua could give a better offer to resolve this issue for those farmers who are in deep...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Why have they said the one thing? What is the reason for that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fixed-Milk Price Contracts: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: They have not gone into the nitty-gritty.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for attending and concur with everything that the Chairman has said. When the Department appeared before us, it told us that the ash dieback scheme was up and running. How many farmers have been sorted to date?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: How many are there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: ---farmers are there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I think the committee will be able to get that figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We might make a note of that - that the committee would get the question answered as to how many individual farmers are involved. My understanding is that planning permission was required for over a certain number of hectares in respect of taking them out. Is LTWO aware that there is supposed to be some sort of legislation to resolve that issue? Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: What is the planting for? My understanding is that the planting was for taking out. I would imagine that you would obviously be getting a licence from the Department if you were changing species.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: My understanding is that you did. A farmer from Mayo rang me about it and I understood that this is what they were looking for when it came to taking them out. I will be honest with Mr. White. I do not know whether there was some legislation or exemption under a certain threshold that would eliminate that. Perhaps the Chairman knows.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ash Dieback and its Impact on the Private Forestry Sector: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: That is 25 acres.