Results 4,061-4,080 of 7,789 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Hayes is just twisting words.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: My interpretation would be that if I am Joe Farmer, Coillte or a multinational that sends in an application, from the day it goes in to the day it is processed, be it an ecologist or whoever has to look at it, it is in the Department's system from beginning to end until a decision has been made one way or the other. Does Mr. Hayes agree?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The witnesses have stated that there are 200 fewer licences. In November and December, 541 licences were issued, of which 116 were afforestation, 58 were roads and 367 were felling. In the same period, 499 came into the Department. That is a difference of 42. Even if we go on the basis of the 200 that the Department has gained from its own interpretation, from reading the submission would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I know how it works but if the Department has gained 200 from the problem we had, what figure would Mr. Hayes say is acceptable to the public for licence applications so they could be processed in two or three months? What figure would this be down to instead of 4,500 or 4,600?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: There are licences that issued out of the 169 in the past two months that date back three and four years. I am a farmer. I presume the Department will accept that if farmers are waiting two or three years for decisions, they would move on to something else. I presume the witnesses accept that. In the past year, were they instructed by a Minister to prioritise Coillte applications?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have two short questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have a few short questions. Has the Department employed an outside company as well as the ecologists? My understanding is that the Department has an outside company looking over this as well. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: How much does it cost in a year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We brought up an issue at our previous committee meeting in January. Mr. Hayes said there was 830,000 cu. m or tonnes of fell. Can we get the information on the dashboard? If I am building a house, I have to send a commencement notice to the council to say I am starting to build. Can we get an accurate figure of the amount of clear-fell timber? The Department gives a licence to include...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes, but we are reporting on nothing. We do not know. If I have a forest, I am going to thin it at the 20-year stage, and I might thin it again at year 24 or 25. In fairness, 70% or 80% of the volume of clear-fell will not be ready until 2030. We are not dealing with accurate figures and unless the Department brings in a system whereby a landowner sends a little note to say when...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Hayes is giving figures in respect of the amount of timber that is available for cutting, but it might not be available to cut for ten years. I understand where he is coming from. First, there could be thinning and then in five or ten years' time, it could be clear-felled. I accept that it is a clear-fell licence and that thinning will also happen, but that timber is not available....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: This is my final question. There is no denying that the public and the industry have lost faith in the Department. Every public representative hears it every day. All of the industry has lost faith in the Department. The national targets do not bother me, but that is what is set out under all these agreements. The Department has reached approximately 53% or 54% of the targets in the past...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Department of Agriculture and the Marine (29 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The one thing I ask Mr. Hayes is not to use court cases. I was not a Deputy in 2011 or 2012 but I knew about the habitats directive and the 15-km zone. I knew that the gate was left wide open if environmental impact assessment, screening and appropriate assessment were not implemented. I do not agree with such measures. I detest this stuff. However, the Department stated on its website...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We talk about building houses. There is currently a problem with flooding in Lough Funshinagh, County Roscommon. Will the Department and especially the NPWS help in every way and not obstruct solutions to that problem? Second, people build one-off houses in rural Ireland. There might be one or two, at most, on site. At present, they are off-site due to the Covid regulations. Is that...

Covid-19 (Social Protection): Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I first need to acknowledge the work being done by the people in the Department of Social Protection over the past year. Is there any intention to consider those who have businesses and who are pension age or over? They were not entitled to the PUP even though they had money borrowed. Is there any intention to change that? One of the vaccines we had hung our hat on is not being...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Primary Medical Certificates (27 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 228. To ask the Minister for Finance when assessments will recommence for new applications for primary medical certificates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4337/21]

Brexit (Fishing Industry): Statements (21 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I have two questions. I refer to the announcement today of the linear cut of 2% which is going to affect small family farms around the country because Britain is not paying into the EU. The previous Taoiseach undertook that Ireland would make up this deficit. Will that be done, rather than letting farmers around the country, especially low-income farmers, face a 2% linear cut? On the...

Brexit (Fishing Industry): Statements (21 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: It was said that this would be topped up.

Brexit (Fishing Industry): Statements (21 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Is the €100 million being topped up?

Written Answers — Department of Defence: State Examinations (13 Jan 2021)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 539. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the leaving certificate oral examinations will take place in 2021; and if so, when the oral examinations will take place. [1807/21]