Results 3,261-3,280 of 34,585 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: The right-hand side refers to tonnes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: That tells me Ireland exported approximately 7 million tonnes of agrifood products last year. I want "Yes" answers to these questions because I am reading the Department's annual report.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I want to get the whole of page 9 on the screen if it is possible. People know Ireland is well known for its agricultural trade and exports. Of those exports detailed in the chart, 4.3 billion tonnes went to the UK, 420,000 tonnes went to the Netherlands, and 190,000 tonnes went to the United States. They are our biggest markets. Page 10 of the Department's annual report details the 2018...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I know I am right. I look at the bottom of page 10 on the annual report and it tells me we imported 4.856 million tonnes of agrifood products from the UK.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: From all the talk about the agricultural industry, people understand that we export a massive amount of food products to the UK, and according to the Department's annual report, we import much more food from the UK than we export to the UK. I will continue on this point. The Netherlands is the second biggest country for our exports with 420,000 tonnes in 2018, but we imported 710,000 tonnes...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I am talking about the volume. I know about the pricing and I have been looking at the book. It will come as a surprise to most of the population that Ireland imports much more food than it exports. We always knew we were eating more pasta and rice and that we were eating fewer potatoes than we used to, but when I looked at these figures I did not realise the scale of what we are doing. I...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: The only thing I do not like about the charts in the annual report, and I ask the Department to take this into account for next year's report, is when the Department comes to the exports on page 9, the chart shows the volume of exports going up from 1 million tonnes to 7 million tonnes in gaps of 1 million tonnes, but when I go to the next page the chart goes up in gaps of 2 million from zero...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Those charts are accurate.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: There is a myth out there, and I come from a rural constituency and was born and reared on a farm, that we all believe we are a great agricultural exporting country. In fact, we are a much greater agricultural importing country than an exporting one. That is never mentioned. People are probably going to jump on me for highlighting this and talking down agriculture, which is not what I am...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Do you understand my-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes. It is a great report.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: There is €4 billion difference: €13 billion versus €9 billion.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I have never heard that second part.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Where is timber on the chart? Is that under "other"? I see dairy, animal foodstuffs and beverages on the import page.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Mr. Gleeson mentioned timber.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: It is "under" which includes wood based products-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: The Department will send us a breakdown of these figures.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I know that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I am not suggesting that. My concern, which is unconnected to the Brexit issue which, is that when I look at the charts the Department has given us, at the start of 2009, ten years ago, we were importing roughly 6 million tonnes but were exporting eight million tonnes. Ireland was exporting more foodstuffs than it was importing ten years ago. This is the myth we have all lived on. In the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: No, I am only talking about product. We can then talk about value added, and I have put those figures on the record as well. The only value-added product I am concerned about is the prepared consumer food which is food and added-value, where the exports were €2.6 billion but the imports were €3.6 billion in that sector. In the other sectors, the value of our exports are...