Results 3,621-3,640 of 7,789 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: An application has gone into the EU for protected geographical indication, PGI, status for Irish beef. Is it the task force's understanding that there will be a premium price for PGI product? Has any work been done to make sure that if we get PGI status, it will mean a higher, premium price for our beef?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: In his submission, Mr. Dowling referred to farmers getting €160 million or €170 million extra, if I recall correctly. What moneys is he referring to there? Is that funding coming under the beef environmental efficiency pilot, BEEP, or something else?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am sorry for interrupting but it should be made clear that when the €100 million was made available, including the €50 million from Europe, €70 million or €75 million was paid because cattle prices were on the floor. Some of the schemes Ms McPhillips mentioned existed before the task force was set up. We are seeing a reduction of 5% because of the BEAM scheme....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Am I correct in saying that no suckler grant was made? In his submission, Mr. Dowling referred to there being talk about a suckler grant and about money being made available, but no suckler cow welfare grant has been paid. I am talking about €200 or €300 to save the suckler herd. None of that was achieved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Dowling is analysing cattle numbers and the beef sector. Does he have concerns about the number of dairy cattle or dairy beef that will come on the system next year? Does he agree that factories can increase the price when the supply of cattle is short? For example, there is no one banging on his door at the moment over the price because there are €4.50, €4.70 and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have read most of the Grant Thornton report. The industry, retailers and so on have said that they need this, this and this but they do not seem concerned at the moment about the four-movement rule, the 30-month rule or any of the other specs. Is that not unusual if the specs were important before now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank Mr. Dowling.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I would like to go revisit a couple of issues with Ms McPhillips. There are producer groups already operating in the sheep sector and they are working well. There appears to be a resistance to the producer groups among the factories on the beef side. Is it correct that approximately 70% or more of the beef we export goes to the UK for mince?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: How much of that is mince?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Representatives of MII gave us figures indicating a huge volume of mince. My understanding on specifications, and I have done a bit of digging on it with Bord Bia, is that something like 750,000 cuts equates to 250,000 cattle but 750,000 cattle are needed to get enough cuts to be able to cater for demand. If the figure is approximately 50% of our beef, only 250,000 cattle, if they all had...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have one problem. I am not blaming Mr. Dowling for this but how much did Grant Thornton get for these three reports?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The one problem I have is that one report was done on specifications and, whether we like to believe it or not, we have gone to the wrong people. In fairness, some people outside the country co-operated with Grant Thornton. However, on the value of an animal, the fact is there are now people around the world who are looking for many parts of an animal, including gallstones. We talked about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Task Force: Discussion (6 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: That is grand. I think Deputy Flaherty wants to come in.

Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Bill 2021: Second Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill and I support it. It is good that we are shining a little light on small and medium sized businesses around the country. When a person decides to start up a small business in which only he or she or three, four or five other people are to be employed that person is taking a risk. Many people put their houses and their families at risk until...

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (30 Jun 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am glad to get the opportunity to speak on these Report Stage amendments. I support the LDA because anything we can do to speed up the development of housing is welcome. I ask the Minister to clarify a number of issues. I have received a lot of phone calls today about stuff that is on Facebook and I ask the Minister to clarify matters on the record of the Dáil. It is being said...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Business of Joint Committee (29 Jun 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the Chair for the update. There was a fair bit of confusion because some of us might not look at emails but the Chair is as good a person to look at it as any. Did he discuss the price per tonne? Can he repeat the tonnage they said they would be able to get through.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Business of Joint Committee (29 Jun 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: How much a tonne?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Business of Joint Committee (29 Jun 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Have they a contract with anyone or will they take it from anybody?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Business of Joint Committee (29 Jun 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: You have to bring it somewhere. The likes of bring centres have to be able to bring it somewhere afterwards, with transport and so on. The Deputy is asking an interesting question.