Results 3,141-3,160 of 9,145 for speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: -----the aquaculture sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will not name any individual company, but the Minister would be willing to meet a representative group of companies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: That is helpful. My next point concerns the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board. Apparently, it is postponing a number of determinations to 2019. Obviously, if there is a high volume of refusals - I think the Minister indicated that the number exceeds 140 - one would imagine that quite a number of appeals are going through. I would like it if there were an independent body dealing with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The Minister will appreciate, though, that if the board is already postponing decisions to 2019, and he can be sure there will be-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: This is an important point because, obviously, we are concerned about the loss of economic growth in the coastal communities along the west coast. An efficient decision-making and appeals process is in everyone's interest. It is not just in the industry's interest; it is in that of those who may be concerned. It is best for everyone - all interested parties - if this process can be as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The Minister has referred to two thirds of the industry, but we understand salmon accounts for three quarters of the value of the industry. Let us go with the Minister's figures of €65 million-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: What the officials------

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: This is about trying to get the overall aquaculture industry ready. Obviously, people have a right to object and we need a fair and efficient decision-making process. Sometimes it will be successful and sometimes it will not be, but decisions should be made sharply and efficiently. Let me repeat that in the call he is making the Minister is failing to turn around the larger share. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: There are 30 recommendations.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: A year and a half later the Minister is before a joint committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas. I have read that we are at a figure of 10% of the size of the Scottish industry.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: No, the fact is that we are at a figure of 10% of the size of the Scottish industry in terms of hard numbers and value. We are producing less than the Faroe Islands. That is the scale of the failure. The Minister's response to the joint committee is that the sector can wait for two more years for a real solution, that he will focus on the low hanging fruit and will not address the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I am asking him to do so as soon as possible. I am stunned that we are at this point one year and six months later.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I have given the statistics. A year and a half on the Minister has not given us an assurance that he will address all of the recommendations made or the concerns of the industry.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: According to the Minister's numbers, two thirds, and, according to the industry's numbers, three quarters of the overall sector must wait for a further two years. He does not think what I have read to him needs to be reflected on and that he needs to keep an open mind until he meets their representatives to see what can be done. Will he rely on the same officials who got us into this mess...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: There is no need for reflection. The objective evidence is shocking.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I am not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The officials have presided over a calamity in the sector. I have given the figures and a year and a half on we are where we are.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Eleven years. I would be looking at the issue of pensions at this stage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The industry would like it to happen as soon as possible.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The Leader will recall I raised the issue of the water supply from the Eddie Fullerton Dam, north of Buncrana, last week. I asked for the assistance of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to make it clear to Irish Water that it needs to meet with the Oireachtas Members from Donegal and the councillors in the north Donegal area. We have a water...