Results 3,281-3,300 of 3,998 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Other Questions: Stamp Duty (24 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: The Minister fails to accept the gravity of the situation. The average farm income in this country is half the average industrial wage, which is the issue here. Farmers are struggling to survive. In many cases and where they depend on the farm alone, the only way to survive is by expanding. To expand, they must buy land beside them. This aspect is recognised and the Minister for...

Other Questions: Stamp Duty (24 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: 10. To ask the Minister for Finance the way in which he will ensure that farmers are not affected by stamp duty increases aimed at commercial developers. [44729/17]

Other Questions: Stamp Duty (24 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister for his reply. The issue raised is quite unusual. We had the announcement on budget day and the following day the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, informed us that the increase was not going to apply to farmland. We all said "Fine, great, it is not going to apply to farmland". It turns out that the Minister was mistaken and that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Renewable Energy Directive: Discussion (24 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I apologise for arriving late. I had a question in the Dáil. My understanding is that a lot of this is around change of land use. The officials will correct me if I am wrong. There is a kind of worldwide lobby suggesting that if I take Rwanda out of producing food and put it to producing energy, there will be people starving in the Horn of Africa. We had the Famine in Ireland...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Renewable Energy Directive: Discussion (24 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I have heard all those arguments before. Where I live, all I see are trees around me and no people. Every 1,000 acres of forestry employs only one full-time person. I absolutely agree with Dr. Hendrick on the climate change benefits, but it employs nobody. That is the reality when compared with any other sector of farming. I never saw trees having to go to the town to buy a gate or a bit...

Topical Issues: GLAS Payments (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I understand that and I understand why the problem has arisen. I would like the Minister of State to try to deal with it. The system was to take in the nutrient management plans before March 2017. The deadline was extended until the middle of June. It then had to be extended a second time, into July, because the system was not able to take them. That is what I was told was the reason....

Topical Issues: GLAS Payments (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: Or the advisers. There will always be somebody who is a little late. Everybody does not get every wisp of hay home; that is life but farmers have been waiting for their money for a very lengthy period as the Minister of State will acknowledge. What needs to be acknowledged is that there is a problem in the Department in regard to the IT systems it uses. I am not blaming the Minister of...

Topical Issues: GLAS Payments (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I am very glad to see the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, in the Chamber. The issue I am raising is about green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, payments. The 6,000 or more farmers waiting for their GLAS money are waiting for their 2016 payments, and we are now nearly at the end of 2017. I am given to understand that a lot of the reason for this is to do with nutrient management...

Questions on Promised Legislation (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: In the programme for Government there is much talk of investing in rural Ireland and ensuring it gets fair play and equal access to all services. One of the pertinent matters for most people living in rural Ireland, even in the context of the recent storm, is the ambulance service. This service in many parts of rural Ireland cannot possibly even dream of reaching the target of 19 minutes to...

Leaders' Questions (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: There was dismay in the farming community and among farm organisations when it became clear that the Government's proposal to triple to 6% the rate of stamp duty on commercial property would apply to farmland, despite the assurances of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Sinn Féin supported an amendment tabled by Deputy Fitzmaurice in an attempt to amend the Government's...

Leaders' Questions (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: In the case of farmland, we are hearing that the exemptions will be extended in the finance Bill-----

Leaders' Questions (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: -----by eliminating the cap that limits certain reliefs to those under the age of 67. This would negate the original purpose of the Government's measure, which was to incentivise the early lifetime transfer of land to the next generation and to encourage young farmers to extend their holdings. All this is being done now to cover up for the clear mistake the Government made in the budget....

Leaders' Questions (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I will explain what the unintended consequences are. We all know farmers around the country with small pieces of land who are working very hard and struggling to survive and raise their families. The only way forward for them is to expand when land comes up for sale beside their farms. Many of them cannot get the money from the bank to extend their holdings in such circumstances. The...

Leaders' Questions (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: We all know the-----

Leaders' Questions (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: The concessions are for developers.

Leaders' Questions (19 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: It is not being provided for.

Correcting Pension Inequities: Motion [Private Members] (18 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: The clock has started and on it goes. This issue has been well rehearsed. As Deputy John Brady said, last December we put a motion before the House. I printed it again this evening. The main point made in it concerned the need to restore pension rates and bands to their pre-September 2012 position, which would deal with most of those who find themselves in this situation. I acknowledge...

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: As the Taoiseach is aware, there is a commitment in the programme for Government to deal with the issue of tax evasion and to resource the Revenue Commissioners appropriately for that. I raise that issue in the context of an incident in Malta this week where a journalist, a woman named Daphne Caruana Galizia, was killed in a bomb explosion. She was instrumental in the release of the Panama...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Future of the Tillage Sector in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I wish to raise a couple of small issues. I am interested in the idea of the biological treatment of crops. It is striking and something on which I seek the witnesses' comments. Recently I was informed that Ireland has one of the largest uses of fertilisers per hectare for agricultural product in the world. It is something that probably will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Future of the Tillage Sector in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Martin Kenny: I am interested in the discussion about the genetically modified, GM, crops. I could be totally wrong but my understanding is that GM is something that would not happen in nature. It would not happen without the interference of man, whereas with breeding, the green revolution and all the other ways of doing it - be it within the same breed or the same family - things are brought together...