Results 3,521-3,540 of 7,670 for speaker:Jackie Cahill

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (14 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: 229. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a dead tree or dead trees in either a farm or forest situation requires a tree felling licence, specifically in the case of the ash species; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50271/21]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (14 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: 230. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will include similar metrics as are currently included for the afforestation, roads and felling licences for the ash dieback RUS scheme in the weekly dashboard from his Department from now on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50272/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: 33. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of works to deliver a home economics teacher training course for Mary Immaculate College, St Patrick’s Campus, Thurles, County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49624/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: 35. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to assist in the delivery of purpose-built student accommodation for the Mary Immaculate College and Technological University of the Shannon campuses in County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49625/21]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Business of Joint Committee (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: No apologies have been received. Before we begin, members now have the option of either being physically present in the committee room or joining the meeting via MS Teams, with the proviso that for meetings in public session, they must be in their Leinster House offices. Members may not participate in the meeting from outside the parliamentary precincts. If joining via MS Teams, please...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: For the first session of today's meeting we are joined by representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. I would like to welcome the following: Dr. Eimear Cotter, director of the office of evidence and assessment; Ms Mary Gurrie, programme manager, water management programme, office of evidence and assessment; and Dr. Jenny Deakin, senior scientific officer, water management...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: I thank Dr. Cotter. We will open to questions from members. Before I go to the other members, I would like to ask Dr. Cotter about her statement that, "The evidence shows that agriculture is the most significant pressure on water quality". What percentage of the levels of nitrogen and nutrients in the water is the EPA attributing to agriculture?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: What does the EPA's research show on waste treatment plants and their impact on water quality? Some population centres have inadequate waste treatment plants. Some other smaller settlements have no waste treatment plants. How is their impact on water quality measured?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: Dr. Cotter referred to 1,000 water bodies impacted by agriculture and 200 others which, for brevity, we will say are impacted by municipal authorities. Would the impact on water quality from waste treatment plants be more serious than the impact from agricultural sources?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: Maybe I am not phrasing my question correctly. Where there are large population centres which, as I and others know, may have inadequate waste treatment plants, and others with no waste treatment plants, is there a more serious impact on water quality near those population centres than in rural areas where there is an impact? Is the deterioration of water quality greater near urban centres?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: Dr. Cotter is not. Have the witnesses a graph of the degree of deterioration of water quality or do they just say that it has deteriorated without showing the extent of the deterioration?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: The sludge that comes from the waste treatment plants.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: On behalf of the committee, I thank the officials from the EPA for engaging with us on these very significant and wide-ranging issues. They might get back to us with information on section 63, which they can relay to the secretariat. We would very much appreciate it. I propose that we suspend the meeting for a few minutes to allow the next witnesses to join.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: We are joined by officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I welcome Mr. David Flynn, principal adviser from the water division, and Mr. Donal Grant, water policy adviser, from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and Mr. Jack Nolan, senior inspector, and Mr. Bernard Harris, agriculture...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: Before I invite members to ask questions, I ask Mr. Flynn to explain the voting process at EU level. We have arranged all of our ducks in a row, as we see fit, and we will take our proposal to Brussels in December. Will the Council of Ministers make the decision or will it be the Commission?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: The difficulty I see with it is that farming practices in Ireland are much different from those of other European countries. In light of arguments over climate change, which often get intertwined with this debate, might the Commission feel that this is a way of controlling emissions, even though everything we do on the nitrates side would be correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: The revised livestock excretion rates, that is, the new bands that have been introduced, will encourage the farming of low-volume cows. Is that a sustainable model? When Teagasc makes its recommendations regarding increased sustainability, there will be talk of the calf that will be produced from the dairy herd for beef production. If farmers are penalised for having a medium-volume cow, I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: It will, however, have an impact on sustainability.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: Yes, but Mr. Nolan understands the point I am making. This will encourage the use of lower volume cows, which will produce a lesser quality animal for the beef herd.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion (13 Oct 2021)

Jackie Cahill: Deputy Fitzmaurice has to go to the Chamber so I will let him in next.