Results 3,481-3,500 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: That is simply not the case. I am aware of the headline the Deputy refers to, but I ask that he bears in mind it was in the context of a central case scenario which was a withdrawal agreement, a transitional arrangement and Brexit happening in an orderly way by the end of 2020. This scenario would have required rolling recruitment of staff up to that period in time. The Deputy is trying to...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: On the Brexit loans, members will be aware that in October 2017, we had an allocation for our 2018 budget, which was drawn down in 2018. The benefit of that is in the loan scheme launched last week. People will apply to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, to get approval as qualified to apply for the loan - which means that the applicant is Brexit-impacted as a primary...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: Yes. I have said before that it is a long running story, certainly longer than we anticipated, and it required primary legislation because of the involvement of the European Investment Bank. It was much more complicated than our previous foray in this area with the working capital scheme or the other €300 million working programme for small business. The fund is there now and it is...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: I will deal with the last point first. I could not agree more with the Deputy that if we want to achieve the objective by 2030, doing exactly what we are doing now will not deliver. It is an ambitious target but it is probably more doable than draining the Shannon. We have spent €5.5 billion in today's money and the plan is to spend another €1 billion between now and 2030, by...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: The deadline for submission of an application is 8 April.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: We hope to deal with the appeals as expeditiously as possible. I have not set a timeline for doing so. I want to get this right rather than having it rushed.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: I will try to deal with those. A lot of questions were asked there. On deer and TB, it is my clear understanding that where farmers or communities raise the prospect of deer possibly being a contributing factor to a TB incident, the Department's local veterinary office is quite prepared to have deer samples taken in the local laboratories. It is not as though the Department is turning a...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: I have been informed by the project team that anybody who has applied who has not yet been taken into the project will be taken in by April or May this year, that is, within the next month or six weeks. My information is that everybody who has applied and wants to go in will go into the project. I believe that is about 60% of the eligible area designated for hen harriers. On areas of...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: Take it up with Revenue first and if the Deputy runs into trouble he can come back to me.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: That is my understanding of it. Reference was made to temporary veterinary inspectors. The increase in the allocation is €2.75 million. Members will be aware that there was a situation, which was highly unsatisfactory, where we had industrial action. That has been resolved and the allocation is up from €18.2 million to €21 million, an increase of €2.75...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: Where is that?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: What is that figure?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: I have that.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: Is that D3?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: I apologise Deputy, we did not send the outturn for 2018 but we sent whatever documentation was asked for. We can send the outturn for 2018.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: This is the 2019 Estimate. It is not 2018.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: I will get the Deputy the outturn. My apologies. I might have missed a few of the Deputy's questions but I will try to deal with them all. He asked about fisheries under subhead D3 and the number of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund applications. There were 17 in 2017, 19 in 2018 and 19 are anticipated in 2019.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: With regard to subhead B10 on forestry, the Deputy asked about the level of afforestation. The number of hectares of new forestry planting in 2017 was 5,538 ha. The target was 7,140 ha. In 2018, it was 4,025 ha and the target was 6,605 ha. For 2019, the target is 6,900 ha. We have been missing the target substantially. The year 2018 was exceptional in the sense that part of the reason...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: Because of the declining performance, we conducted a mid-term review of the forestry programme. We have revised the level of grant aid available for various species mix. All of them have increased. We hope we can get the targets back on track. This is very important. It was the rationale behind reviewing the operational programme for forestry. It remains to be seen. There is a...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Apr 2019)

Michael Creed: Funding for the sheep welfare scheme in 2017 was €1.9 million, in 2018 it was €1.8 million and we are budgeting for €1.8 million in 2019. It is a demand-led scheme. If it is exceeded we will pay but we are basing our budget on the previous year's applications. It is true to say the number of ewes in the country is more than the number of applications we receive. This...