Results 25,981-26,000 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: I have read it. The Deputies are getting upset, rightly so, because they are not representing agriculture. I genuinely do not know what the Fianna Fáil Party represents.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: I hope the Deputies have some policies that will help us to implement Food Harvest 2020 and the follow-on strategy we will develop which will build on the sense of Food Harvest 2020. That was a very important and significant policy document.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: Just as I have always acknowledged that it was produced by the Deputy's party. However, the motion does not build on it. That is a fact.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: It is left to the Government to build on the potential of Food Harvest 2020 and that is what we are doing. Before concluding, I note that it is quite extraordinary that six months out from the abolition of dairy quotas which will facilitate the Irish dairy industry to grow to its full potential over time, there is no mention of that industry in a broad Fianna Fáil motion on...
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: The Deputy should know the answer to that question.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“notes:— the importance of agriculture as Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; — the successful negotiation of the new Common Agriculture Policy during the Irish Presidency in 2013 which secured Pillar 1 funding of €8.5 billion for...
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputies opposite for bringing this motion before the House as it gives us an opportunity, which is always welcome from my perspective, to debate the Government's approach to agriculture. The Fianna Fáil motion is based on Article 39 of the Lisbon treaty. It is important for people to understand what that states because the Deputies opposite only picked out a small portion...
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: That was what Deputy Ó Cuív's Government left behind.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: It does not happen.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: No it was not, but-----
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: ----- that was the figure that was being predicted previously.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: Well, the Deputies are upset and they should be because they were not advocates for agriculture at the time.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: What has been delivered in the CAP, which has been welcomed by all farming organisations, has been a €12.5 billion package for Irish agriculture between now and 2020. Instead of a 30% reduction in direct payments, it is 3%. In Pillar 2 we are ensuring that the average spend in rural development programmes over the next seven years is about €565 million, which is the same as...
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: I will come to that because unfortunately there is nothing new in Fianna Fáil's motion apart from a proposal to give €200 per animal to every suckler farmer in the country even though we have a beef genomic scheme that has gone to the Commission to be considered for approval. When we asked for observations during a public consultation process, there was no mention of this...
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: If one looks at-----
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: It is to the credit of Fianna Fáil when in government that it set in train Food Harvest 2020. Unfortunately since then, I have not seen any policy from Fianna Fáil in opposition in terms of the implementation of Food Harvest 2020 and taking those targets forward. However, let us consider progress on the targets so far. We have virtually achieved the target on beef already - in...
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: In pigs against a target of 50%, we have already achieved 54%. In sheep the target was 20% and we have already achieved 19%. So Irish agriculture is forging ahead. There are always difficulties; every year some sector will have difficulty with price because we export 90% of everything we produce, which creates vulnerability. Does Deputy Ó Cuív really believe that by putting a...
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: In terms of those markets-----
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: The French do not export large volumes of beef; the French beef industry provides beef for its own marketplace, which is much easier to regulate than a market that exports 90% of what it produces.
- Agriculture Industry: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2014)
Simon Coveney: Has the Deputy costed that?