Results 3,781-3,800 of 7,283 for speaker:Josepha Madigan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I am meeting the IFA tomorrow and I can discuss that with the association. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has ongoing engagement with the IFA with regard to designated lands and habitats. I can speak to them about that tomorrow.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: First, biodiversity is something the Government takes extremely seriously. We have approximately €60 million under the Project Ireland 2040 plan going specifically into biodiversity. As I said, I held the first biodiversity conference this year and we had 40 seeds of nature which was stemming from that. There are a number of biodiversity initiatives that we are currently...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: As for hedge cutting, there is no need to notify the local authority if a person is cutting the hedge.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: No, it does not. Sorry, I thought the Deputy was asking the question the other way around. With regard to the turf compensation scheme, we have about €8 million and that will be entirely spent, so any money owing will be paid.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: It was €8 million for the entire year and I can get the figure for exactly what is left. The Deputy mentioned we have the EU reasoned opinion in regard to turf cutting in the context of the 440 special areas of conservation, SACs, and we are looking at that as well. I have just been informed by my officials that 89% of the scheme funding has been spent so far and we will have it all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: It will be spent by the end of the year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: We will get back to everybody. There is no difficulty with that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I am meeting the IFA tomorrow and I will let them know I spoke to the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: As the budgetary negotiations are ongoing, I am not in a position to say anything in that regard until 8 October.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I have given my reasons as best I can.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: Finally, a provision of €40.4 million is made available in 2019 to support the North-South co-operation programme area. Some 95% of this funding is used to support initiatives by the two North-South implementation bodies, An Foras Teanga, which comprises Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency, and Waterways Ireland. These are also subject to the approval of the North-South...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I can respond.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Mid-Year Review: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: The Minister of State set out the increases in funding. We are always reluctant to talk about 2008 figures as a benchmark because spending at that time was unsustainable. There are ongoing budgetary negotiations. I formally delegated formally to the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, the function of representing the Gaeltacht and the islands. I am also doing a significant amount of work in...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Animal Diseases (1 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I take this very seriously, but my hands are tied at the moment and I regret that is the case from the Deputies' perspective. That is how it is.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Animal Diseases (1 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. It important for the House to be aware of the potentially devastating impact of rabbit haemorrhagic disease. When this disease was first reported in domestic farmed rabbits in China in 1984, it killed millions of animals within one year of its discovery. A new and more virulent strain of this virus, known as RHD2, emerged in France in...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Animal Diseases (1 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: Clearly, there would be some difficulties with vaccinating animals in the wild. Potentially, there are 233,000 hares and 2 million rabbits in Ireland. The Irish Coursing Club, ICC, has been mentioned. Hare coursing is administered by the ICC, which was set up under the Greyhound Industry Act 1958. Statutory responsibility for the Act resides with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Animal Diseases (1 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: Deputy Mattie McGrath accused me of the same bias when he spoke about a rural-urban split during a Topical Issue debate last week.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Animal Diseases (1 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: No Minister in my shoes in these circumstances would have been in a position to make any other decision than that which I made. I am disappointed that Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is being political about this matter because my assistant secretary spoke to him and gave him some details about this matter.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Animal Diseases (1 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: People from Fine Gael asked to meet me. We have also met people from Fianna Fáil. We are open to meeting any public representative who wants information on this matter. There is no conspiracy. I regret that having issued the licence, I had no option other than to row back on it, based on the scientific evidence.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Animal Diseases (1 Oct 2019)

Josepha Madigan: As a Minister, I will not have it on my conscience that I could be responsible for exterminating - for want of a better word - the entire hare population. I understand the ICC's concerns. We have worked with the ICC and we are working with it now. When officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine meet...