Results 3,041-3,060 of 7,788 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (15 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 949. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the 5,250 licences his Department will issue in 2022 will fulfil the needs of the forestry sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7784/22]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (15 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 950. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the metrics used by his Department to formulate the projected targets for forestry licensing for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7785/22]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (15 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 951. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the 1,040 afforestation licences projected for 2022 will deliver the 8,000 hectares of afforestation required to meet climate action targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7786/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for attending and making their presentation. The first thing that must be recognised is that in the 1980s, the same EU that the witnesses have spoken of, in respect of what it is looking for now, paid farmers around this country to knock every ditch and hedge down. Farmers basically had to get bulldozers and drive them into a corner. It is the same EU that is looking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am not saying it has to be hedges, but 4% has to be idle for biodiversity. Is that a good thing? Does Mr. Hickey welcome that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The witnesses talked about gapping in hedgerows. What is the solution to gapping?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We have noticed that breasting a hedge, which can be done with a machine, by putting a scraw on the end of it, as it was done traditionally in rural Ireland, thickens the whole hedge and takes the daylight areas out of that. Regarding the statistics about Monaghan compared with statistics around the country, was it a section of Monaghan or was every part of Monaghan looked at?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Was every hedge in Monaghan looked at?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Am I correct in saying that 10 sq. km have been used in total out of the county?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: When Ms Clerkin says that a certain amount has been lost, has she also looked at or contacted the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to discover, through GLAS and the other schemes which involved people sowing trees, to add up what was added to compensate for what might be lost?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I would be surprised if there were no additions with some of the environmental schemes going back to 2010 or, even before that, with the rural environment protection scheme, REPS. Ms Clerkin will be familiar with the land too. There was a substantial amount of sowing under the schemes, including in Monaghan or any other county, especially those counties in the west or where there are many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Did it cover sections of 40 m, 20 m or 15 m? It gets more accurate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Ms O'Sullivan is talking about the number of trees or hedgerows. For accuracy, one needs to know the area for each photograph. Devenish was at our committee. I understand that a new LiDAR system was announced by the Department. The OPW is conducting a LiDAR survey next year. It warned us to make sure that it was down to 10 sq. m or 14 sq. m, off the top of my head, because it will not be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I will ask a few questions together as I want to let other members in. The witnesses talked about the importance of cattle not going where the roots of the trees are, especially around ditches. The clay in ditches will move down in soft weather and expose the root of a whitethorn. Would the witnesses recommend that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine help farmers fence on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Are they whitethorns?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Hedgerows, Carbon and Biodiversity: Hedgerows Ireland (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: For farmers under the new eco-scheme, what would the witnesses recommend in the line of hedgerows to be sown? Would they put in laurels or whitethorn? What would they put in that would be fairly sound maintenance-wise?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Draft Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027: Discussion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I propose Senator Paul Daly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Draft Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027: Discussion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for coming in. I also thank those who are joining us online. My first question is to all of the witnesses. We talk about CAP as if we have to do X, Y and Z environmentally. In fairness, many farmers are doing things. Years ago the purpose of the CAP negotiations was to bring down the price the farmer was getting for the food he or she was producing but it was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Draft Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027: Discussion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: In regard to the species that are declining, are they migrating or resident species?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Draft Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027: Discussion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael Fitzmaurice: With migrating birds, do we know it is a problem in the place they migrate to or if the problem is here? Can we pinpoint that here?