Results 26,161-26,180 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: First of all, I would not accept that. I think there are more people working in those sectors now than there were before. I do not have an exact number on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: If one looks at the seafood and fish processing sector, there are more jobs now than there were before.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: I heard what the Deputy said. As regards forestry and agriculture, if one asks the CSO for clarification of its figures, it is not talking about the food industry but about primary sectors. There is a slight increase in the numbers this year, whereas last year there was a significant increase, although the same methodology was used. I am not suggesting that there is a massive flocking to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Farmers can look forward to an increased RDP spend every year for the next six years if we are going to get to an average spend of €565 million. However, we cannot go straight from €405 million to €565 million overnight, given budgetary constraints and the expenditure profile. It does show the success of negotiations around getting Exchequer co-funding for a rural...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Will the Deputy put that question again please?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The only issue is that many of these schemes are voluntary, but they have effectively become non-voluntary. Let us consider the beef quality assurance scheme, setting aside what the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association has been saying recently. There is an increasing take-up of the quality assurance scheme because farmers get better prices for their beef. Several factories will not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Which section is €5 million above?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The current expenditure outturn for 2014 is currently €128 million. The estimate was €203 million. The expenditure does not always happen in an even manner throughout the year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: Yes, I think so. My understanding is that we are likely to spend our full Estimate this year. That has not always been the case and obviously the process is managed. My understanding is that this is the case. We have made savings in terms of food safety, animal health and so on. Let us consider TB, for example. I am unsure whether it was Deputy Heydon or Deputy Deering who said that we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is the case at the moment. We target resources, including for culling badgers. Herds are frozen, effectively, once there is an outbreak. We are trying to isolate problems, deal with them, slaughter the animals, compensate the farmers and deal with the wildlife issue, including badgers, and I know there is a potential issue with wild deer in the Chairman's area. We must take on these...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: I take your point, Chairman. If there are specific problem areas we will have to try to develop solutions for those problem areas.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The figure for BSE testing is rather small.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The figure is €1.25 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: We are still carrying out many testing programmes on carcasses to ensure that we are monitoring and on top of that, but it is down. The actual test is not a big expense; compensation is the main expense. Sorry; I am referring to TB. BSE testing represents small money. Deputy Deering asked me about the fodder crisis. Let us recall when the fodder crisis arose. It had been predicted...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy is covering a lot of schemes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: My apologies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The target was to carry out 85,000 TSE tests on prescribed animals, and to date 48,000 have been tested. On animal health, we have learned some valuable lessons from the horsemeat issue. Safety and hygiene inspections and supervision in factories protect the reputation of our industry. If our reputation is damaged, our capacity to enter the new markets we have discussed is affected....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: The one financial question that you asked me, Chairman, concerned the training and research budget. This looks to be way under-spent. The research programmes and the call for new expenditure always happen in the autumn, so there will be a dramatic increase in expenditure between now and the end of the year. Some of the schemes and funded research programmes are very much autumn-focused.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: I suspect they do. If we are going to have about 300,000 more cows in our herd between now and 2020, which is an increase of approximately 25% to 30%, we will get the other 25% growth from increased yield in cows. As a rule of thumb, it takes about one person to milk 100 cows. That is a conservative figure so it may take more in many family farm situations. That means that we are going to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Vote 30 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Sep 2014)

Simon Coveney: That is a fair point. I have met all the banks in Ireland on multiple occasions to discuss this issue. Many farmers in New Zealand are effectively working for the bank rather than themselves. We cannot allow that to happen to a new generation of Irish farmers with the excitement around quota expansion. Ironically, in some ways the weakening of dairy prices forces dairy farmers to ensure...