Results 31,381-31,400 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: This has not been reported to me on numerous occasions. I am aware that the Deputy has raised this issue before. If the Deputy has evidence on which I can act, I ask him to give it to me and I will act upon it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: With respect, I do not deal with the Garda Síochána; I deal with Coillte at company board level. If there are questions which need to be asked of the Coillte board about any type of fraudulent activity, I will follow up on that. However, I will not cast aspersions without having the supporting evidence. On the more general point about a Government decision on harvesting rights,...

Other Questions: TB Eradication Scheme (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: The bovine TB eradication programme implemented by my Department involves a comprehensive range of measures, including the mandatory annual testing of all cattle in the national herd, the early removal of reactors, the payment of compensation for cattle removed as reactors, implementation of a range of supplementary tests such as post-derestriction and contiguous tests, a wildlife programme...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: No, I do not agree with the Deputy. He seems to be the one trying to stoke this up in terms of challenging its appropriateness. He was the first person to raise this matter. Nobody else raised it with me. It is not the case that everybody else has been calling for this and the Deputy is speaking for them. He seems to be the one trying to make a political football out of this. That is a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: My job is to get on with what I am legally obliged to do which is to give due consideration in a robust but fair way to an application for a significant piece of infrastructure in water and I will do that. I will accept all of the advice I am supposed to get in that process and then make an independent and informed decision using my judgment as best I can. That is my responsibility. If...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: This is a question relating to Coillte and is a real concern for many timber companies and sawmills. Due to the fact that 80% of their supply comes from Coillte forests, they are concerned about the implication for their businesses of the sale of harvesting rights in forests on which they rely for a steady supply to their sawmills and the potentially disruptive effect if this sale is not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: No.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: I have been a bit surprised by the Deputy's commentary on this issue. I have made it clear on many occasions, long before this application was made to my Department and since, that the issue of deep water aquaculture does provide an exciting potential for stimulus, growth and job creation for our seafood sector, particularly along the west coast. However, I have been very careful, both...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: On what?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: Our target is 14,000 ha.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy should read the programme for Government.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: I suggest that the Deputy should attend the next meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine at which representatives of Coillte are in attendance to ask them some of these questions. They have been at that forum on a number of occasions in recent months. All of these questions have been asked and answered. Perhaps the Deputy should inform himself by talking to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: Yes. It is clear that this Government would like to plant more trees. We would have to pay for that. My Department spends approximately €110 million per annum on afforestation and forestry premiums. That expenditure is not co-financed from Europe or anywhere else. That significant commitment has not decreased as reductions have had to be imposed on the rest of the budget. My...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Aquaculture Licences (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: An application by Bord Iascaigh Mhara for an aquaculture licence for the cultivation of finfish near Inis Oírr in Galway Bay was received by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine last year. The application and its accompanying environmental impact statement are being considered under the provisions of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997 and the Foreshore Act 1933. The role...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: I am not selling anything to the troika.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: With all due respect, this is not the Deputy's decision alone. The Government is assessing all of the issues outlined by him. In fact, multiple assessments are being made in the valuation of timber and harvesting rights. However, just because we have not yet given that information to the Deputy which will be the basis of a Government decision does not mean the work is not being done. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: We are back on Coillte.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: As a member of the Government I have been involved in all stages of the decision-making process to date in respect of the proposed sale of Coillte's harvesting rights. From the outset, following the publication of the report of the review group on State assets and liabilities in April 2011, I was engaged as the relevant Minister to ascertain the value of Coillte and its various assets. I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Coillte Harvesting Rights Sale (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: We are proceeding with caution. Nothing is being rushed. I will be bringing a recommendation to Government on this within months if not weeks. Certainly, we understand the concerns across the broader timber industry in respect of proceeding. We have an obligation to look at the potential of all State assets and the appropriateness of their sale. We will give our full consideration to this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes Payments (26 Mar 2013)

Simon Coveney: I will come to the last question in a later reply. Back in 2007 there were 340 companies drawing down payments. There are now 435. It is true that many of these are a result of farmers coming together to set up a limited company to draw down payments on the transfer. There are larger companies also. The Deputy referred to the Irish Agricultural Development Company which is part of the...