Results 2,621-2,640 of 4,399 for speaker:Martin Browne

Carbon Tax: Motion [Private Members] (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: Climate action is vital and we all have our part to play. Considerable efforts must be made. However, everybody must be supported to help make those changes and the regressive carbon tax falls short in that regard. I thank the Rural Independent Group for giving us the time to discuss this issue. Is the carbon tax designed to take into account energy poverty? The answer is a simple...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I welcome the guests. I asked for them to be brought before the committee as part of its agenda because I had seen the work they had done. It came in light of the frequent discovery of abandoned horses in County Tipperary. As the Chairman said, we have seen this in recent years and there was one particular location that kept coming up, although we have seen instances of neglect in various...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: The Garda would be the first point of contact.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: What is our guests' experience of the availability of the Department, the council and the Garda when they contact those organisations? Do they come quickly or is it a long, drawn-out process?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: Is there a set routine among the organisations? Is all the information fed up a line that includes the Garda, the local authority and the Department? Is it a more haphazard situation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: Is there a set routine that is followed to track all the information from the time a report comes into our guests' organisation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I will move on to public awareness and consultations with various horse-owning sectors. It is important that everyone is singing from the one hymn sheet. Are the programmes in existence effective in highlighting the abuse of animals? What more could be done to make the public, or even the Garda, more aware? Mr. Cullen spoke about the training new recruits are undertaking in Templemore....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: What changes would our guests like to see? What would they recommend with respect to the Animal Welfare Act 2013? What suggestions have they that we could bring from this committee and to a Minister?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Equine Welfare: My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I thank our guests and wish them the best of luck, going forward.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I welcome the guests. It may just be me but I think the Department is a little dismissive of the development of the hemp industry. It has called it a niche crop and it seems to me there is no real intention of moving away from that position. It also said there was little evidence in the consultation showing how it could provide a meaningful income all along the supply chain. That seems...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: Is the Department giving adequate attention to the sector? The Department seems very dismissive. Everybody else seems to think there could be huge potential in the growing of hemp but the Department described it as niche.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: As Senator Daly has said, if there is not a drive from the Department to change this, it appears dismissive of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is leaving it with the Department of Health and plodding along with what has happened over the past couple of years. Unless there is a drive from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine itself to change this, there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: Is hemp controlled by the departments of health in other countries or is it controlled by their departments of agriculture? It comes under the Department of Health here but is it the same in different countries across Europe?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I am interested in whether the Department has looked into how many jobs may have been lost as a result of the 52% drop in the area sown with hemp. Has the Department examined why or engaged with the farmers in question about the reasons for this drop in the number of hectares sowed with hemp?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: There was a 52% drop in the sector. I imagine in any sector, such as dairy or anywhere else, if there was a 52% drop, the Department would surely ask questions or try to find why there was such a drop in the sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: Does the Department have any figure on how much hemp or products derived from hemp are imported to the country? Could we get an idea of what products derived from hemp are brought to the country? What are those products used for? Perhaps then we could start cutting down on imports and the carbon footprint that goes with that. Do the witnesses have any figures on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I have some questions for Teagasc. Why has there been a lack of demand for hemp following the three research projects Teagasc mentioned? Is it purely a lack of need or were there other difficulties, such as legislation or the public perception?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I suppose it is the market. Is that why Teagasc believes there was a lack of demand?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: Mr. Caslin has more or less answered my final question, which relates to the research on MDF. It has been claimed that hemp has great potential for retrofitting, construction and installation. Has Teagasc data to back that up?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hemp Industry: Discussion (27 Apr 2022)

Martin Browne: I have a final question. It is for the Department. To go back to the 2018 consultation, it was said there is a lack of evidence to prove a meaningful income could be provided all along the supply chain. Can Mr. Moloney expand on the evidence sought and the research the Department carried out to ascertain that? How high did it set the bar?