Results 30,001-30,020 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte Teoranta Harvesting Rights Sale (4 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Coillte Teoranta was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act 1988 and the sale by Coillte of future harvesting rights, to which the Deputy refers, is an operational matter for the company. Coillte has, however, advised that no such harvesting rights were sold in the past three years i.e. 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Welfare Issues (4 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: My Department treats allegations of animal cruelty with the utmost seriousness and has been in touch with Compassion in World Farming to advise that if the Organisation has evidence of cruelty to animals on Irish farms, it should be forwarded to An Garda Síochána for investigation. Separately my officials are following up on the information received from CIWF and any violations of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: International Bodies Membership (4 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: My Department represents Ireland in a number of international organisations, international agencies and international bodies and these can be found listed below. As to the State Bodies and agencies under this Department’s aegis, this would be an operational matter for the bodies or agencies themselves. Table Bioversity International / European Co-operative Programme for Plant...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licences Applications (4 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: An application by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) for an aquaculture licence for the cultivation of finfish near Inis Oirr in Galway Bay was received by my Department last year. The application and its accompanying Environmental Impact Statement are being considered under the provisions of the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act and the 1933 Foreshore Act. A determination in respect of the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sugar Industry (3 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: I would like to give the Deputy the background to this issue. The EU Sugar Regime underwent a radical reform in 2005 following major EU decisions to restructure the industry. A temporary restructuring scheme was introduced with the aim of reducing EU sugar production. Greencore, the holder of the entire Irish sugar quota, availed of this voluntary scheme, dismantled its facilities and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Directives (3 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Statutory Instrument No. 155 of 2012 which transposes Directive 2009/128/EC into Irish law, makes it a legal requirement for all “agricultural sprayers” over 3m wide, as well as orchard sprayers and other pesticide application equipment to be tested by November 2016. Officials in my Department are currently working on the mechanisms to facilitate this process and it is planned...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Directives (3 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: Statutory Instrument No. 155 of 2012 which transposes Directive 2009/128/EC into Irish law, makes it a legal requirement for all “agricultural sprayers” over 3m wide, as well as orchard sprayers to be tested by November 2016. Schedule 1 of the legislation prescribes the standard to which the above equipment will be tested i.e. boom sprayers in excess of 3m wide must conform...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Directives (3 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: The Directive in question was transposed into Irish legislation in 2012 under Statutory Instrument 155 of 2012. The principle aim of these regulations is to achieve a more sustainable use of pesticides in both the farming and the amenity/landscaping sectors. With regard to the "testing and use of agricultural sprayers", these regulations enable me to establish a register of "inspectors of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Conditions (3 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: The process of ranking and selecting all AEOS applicants was clearly set out in the scheme documentation. Acceptance into the scheme was established using the pre-determined selection criteria as follows: 1. farmers in the Boora region of Co. Offaly who chose Wild Bird Cover Option B (Grey Partridge) as one of their selected options, 2. farmers with a minimum of 0.5 hectares of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Management (3 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: With regard to a discrepancy of any kind on an individual afforestation contract, the Forest Service is not in a position to give a definitive explanation without knowing the details of the contract in question. However, in general terms, the situation as described most commonly occurs where an applicant has made an over-claim on his or her contract and my Department discovers that...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: The school milk scheme is intended to boost milk consumption and to promote and encourage the consumption of milk among school children. In 2012, €0.9 million was provided for payments towards the cost of whole milk and skimmed milk products, including milk flavoured and otherwise, and plain yogurts to all nurseries, preschools and primary school pupils. Each pupil is entitled to a...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: There is an administration requirement to draw down this funding and in some schools teachers do not want to do it because of resource or staff shortages or whatever. I agree with the Deputy if the money and the scheme are there, it is something we should encourage, in particular given our ambitions for the dairy sector. We should be the dairy country in the world in terms of promoting...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: We even put free fridges into some schools to encourage this scheme. This is about milk promotion but it is also about healthy eating in schools. The Department of Education and Skills has other schemes around healthy eating programmes in schools and this is linked to them. This is a separate point entirely but, across Departments, we are looking at a more effective healthy eating...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: I am not sure about the Land Commission. The Land Commission is just storage of maps.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: It is €19,000. The early retirement scheme is due to run out at the end of 2016, so members will see it stepped down, just like the REP scheme is stepping down each year. We are making natural savings there, which is helpful given the fact that we must reduce budgets year after year. Hopefully, that will stop in the not too distant future and we will start increasing expenditure...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: A working group is looking at the definition of unenclosed land at the moment because it is not just an issue in Wicklow. I suspect it is an issue in Kerry and a number of other areas as well.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: This relates to DAS. In respect of what happened last year with the scheme, members will remember we had quite a long debate in this committee about how we would make the savings because I had asked people for their feedback. We had a closed-door session, which was very useful in terms of getting people's feedback. I made it clear that we had to make the savings so I wanted people's input...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: What was the second question?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: The second question is easy to answer. That essentially relates to penalties. The technical term for them is disallowances. Every country must spend something on disallowances each year following an audit from the Commission. It looks at all the schemes and the systems in place to control those schemes and then makes an estimate of the money it should not have given or should not give on...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: It is essentially a fine. It is money committed from the EU that it does not give us, so it is basically the same as a fine. We anticipate the money coming in that is linked with schemes and the EU gives us so much and does not give us the remainder because that is the disallowance. D3(ii) is the interest on capital borrowed for intervention. This is an Estimate but we will not spend...