Results 3,421-3,440 of 23,944 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Diseases (10 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: There is no statutory surveillance or control programme for TB in goats in Ireland, as there is in cattle. Whilst there is a compensation scheme available to eligible herdowners of bovines in the event of a TB outbreak, funded in part from disease levies collected on milk supplies and and bovines slaughtered or exported live, there is no compensation scheme available to, or collection of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Wildlife Protection (5 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The movement of bees within the Union is governed by Regulation (EU) 2016/429 (the Animal Health Law) which is supplemented by Commission Implementing and Delegated Regulations (Regulation (EU) 2020/688 and 2021/403). These EU regulations contain specific provisions to safeguard the health of bees located in the territory of the union. The importation of honeybees into Ireland is allowed...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (5 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department has examined the relevant records and have confirmed that, in line with the terms and conditions of the scheme, this applicant's Fodder Support Scheme 2022 application was selected as part of administrative checks and the applicant was asked to submit receipts to support the declaration of cutting of silage/hay. Two letters issued to the applicant; the first on 10 October...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Correspondence (5 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The above person is claiming land in an area known as Keelderry Commonage. In 2010 this land was subject to inspection, the findings of which resulted in a reduction in the number of eligible hectares available to all those claiming Keelderry commonage, resulting in a reduced payment under the Single Payment Scheme. The correspondence we refer to is currently being examined by my...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte Teoranta (5 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Coillte is a private limited company established under the Forestry Act 1988 and is operationally independent from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I have referred the matters raised to Coillte for direct follow-up with the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (5 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: As is the case with all EU co-funded schemes, all ACRES applications must pass regulatory controls and validations before payment can issue. It is anticipated that payments for those cases that have passed all validations will commence in late November, and will continue to issue thereafter on a weekly basis. All necessary material to enable ACRES payments to be calculated needs to be...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (5 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department has issued guidance on the application of rock phosphate on afforestation sites within the Fertiliser sections in the Forestry Standards Manual (August 2023) and the Environmental Requirements for Afforestation (August 2023). Within the Forestry Standards Manual it is stated that; ‘Fertiliser is best applied in early summer and not outside the period April to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Invasive Species Policy (5 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: In November 2019, my Department launched a major plant health initiative in its ‘Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy 2020-2025’ which outlines the importance of plant health biosecurity for Ireland and helps ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the risks to plant health in Ireland, and their role and responsibilities to reduce those risks. My Department has invested...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the availability of these significant supports for on-farm investment. It is of importance for farmers throughout the country, particularly in his constituency. The Government and I, as Minister, are committed to delivering on this. The new TAMS 3 commenced in February with the launch of the solar capital investment scheme and then opened up for...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We are trying to sequence this. It cannot all be done in one go. It should be borne in mind that it opened up through a number of months and only closed on 1 July. A record number of applications were made and we have to work through them in the most efficient way possible. We have given authorisation to half of all applicants to go ahead and make their purchase. That relates to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Cathaoirleach and committee members for the invitation to the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and me to come before it to discuss forestry. We are joined by Mr. Paul Savage, assistant secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Mr. Fergus Moore, Mr. Barry Delany and Mr. Seamus Dunne from the Department's forestry management service. It is good to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I want to speak on the wider point on confidence. There is no doubt that in recent years there have been real challenges. The Minister of State, the team and I have worked hard with regard to the licensing backlog. We have made massive progress on it. Undoubtedly it has affected confidence and we acknowledge that. It is why we put so many resources into working through it. It is also...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is the nature of de minimisaid.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: De minimisaid applies in the absence of having state aid approval and there are normally limits.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: If the Deputy looks at what we have done here, there has been a massive step change in terms of the supports available. The key objective here is to support family farms. We want to support the farmers in this country who have the land to adopt some forestry as part of their farming enterprise. The premiums are very attractive and are up by almost two thirds on an annual basis, as well as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: There are restrictions in certain areas. We can only provide licences where it is appropriate to do so and where it stacks up to do so and that does present challenges for people in those areas. However, from the Government's point of view, we have put really strong premiums in place. We are trying to make sure people can get their licences in a timely fashion, which was not the case for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I want to add to that. When both the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and I came into office in early 2020, there was a growing crisis at that stage. Up to then, licences were issuing in a relatively timely manner. The result of that court case, however, meant that the time and resources going into processing each application in hand radically increased. This led to the build-up of a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I will briefly add to that. It is important to acknowledge what the team has done over the past couple of years in getting to this situation in the context where, as a result of a court case, things were changed radically, which led to a massive backlog. That obviously put massive pressure on the industry and all involved in it. It also posed a massive challenge to the team. We have gone...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Just in terms of the figures, if Deputy Healy-Rae looks at private felling licences, this year we received 696 but we issued 1,176. We are issuing a lot more than we have received. We received applications for 750 Coillte felling licences and we issued 1,132. We are more on top of felling licences now. When they come in they are dealt with very promptly and issued. That is coming from a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: In response to Deputy Healy-Rae, the point is that we are putting massive amounts of taxpayers' money into the premiums for forestry and, therefore, we must make sure trees are being planted in areas that serve the public interest well in terms of where the money is being paid to put in forestry. We are paying for the planting of it and we are paying 20 years of premiums to farmers. The...