Results 421-440 of 7,773 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: No. I want to touch on what the Chairman spoke about. In fairness, the animal identification and movement, AIM, system for cattle is probably the best in the world. We register 2.5 million calves a year, give or take. In fairness, it is clinical. No one could ever fault it. As the Cathaoirleach said, if you do not have it done within the 21 days, you are in trouble. You get the letter....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: On strategy and targeted supports for farmers, there is a new EU directive that exempts farms of up to 10 ha. However, farmers contend that paperwork is making it harder to farm. Is there any strategy to simplify that? Does it worry the Department that there are concerning signs of an exodus from the suckler sector? In the last few days, we have seen that the sheep sector seems to be down...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Gleeson knows the system inside and out. At the moment, there is a fiasco with ACRES for many farmers. The matter is not being resolved. It is dragging on and on. I know a certain amount of money was given. As part of this thing of looking at the flowers present in an area, the Department might say that it did not get something even though it had been sent in and it may look for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: In fairness, the rest of it was-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I agree with Mr. Gleeson, especially in respect of the environmental schemes. If people are in on something and they have it there, the computer system is all we hear about. The forestry scheme from 2020 up to now is problematic for the Department, to put it mildly. Even from 2016 to now was problematic for the Department. In fairness to this committee and the Chairman, we have spent a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: On organic farming, Mr. Jack Nolan and others went around the country and had meetings in halls at night and that is how the Department got numbers up. He explained it in bread and butter terms. He is at it himself, which means he was able to go through it. A bit of credit has to be given there. Mr. Callanan spoke about water with Senator Lombard earlier. I read a report again this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am a TD.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I will be brief. I thank the witnesses for coming in. What is owed today on the 2023 ACRES scheme in total?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes. To farmers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes, but what is owed from the 2023 scheme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Obviously the Department has a ballpark figure. If 55,000 people were let in, of the budget the Department had, what would be owed? What is paid and what is owed? I am trying to find out what is owed to the people who are still waiting on the money because of the IT problem?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Is that €275 million?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Realistically, when does the Department envisage this happening? Every one of us is getting it from farmers, especially when there are those assessments on flowers and the co-operation project zones. When does the Department reckon that those farmers will be paid? It is my understanding that many of the low-lying farmers, which was the more simpler part of it, would be paid fairly well,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: It is hard enough on farmers to be waiting. Is there no other way it can be done? Is there a manual way of doing this if it is problematic that the IT system is not picking up issues? Is there something that could be done manually to speed it up?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Looking down the road to four years from now, I ask that when this is perfected, the Department does not go chopping and changing. Maybe it could give more options to farmers in order that if they do not want to be in co-ordination project zones, it would be up to them to decide if they wanted to go into separate schemes. If the criteria type is perfected on the IT system, chopping and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Just give more options. If they do not want to be in co-ordinated projects zones or if they want to go into something else other than growing flowers, let them do that. Mr. Savage made a comment to the effect that a certain area of the country has been environmentally assessed and that it could be used for policy purposes later on. To which policy was Mr. Savage referring?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I know that. I have one small other question. I brought it up the other day. In 2016, the Department changed the regulations so that an owner's consent was not needed to change a book over. Is that now going to be changed back?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Statement of Strategy 2023-2026: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am not criticising the CAP part. What I am on about is the ACRES side of things.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: On TAMS, is there any focus on the derogation, which, I believe, will be coming up for Ireland next year? At present, farmers get a grant if they have a derogation. Will there be any aspects of TAMS available - for instance, if they needed to put down extra tanks - or is it just for soiled water? On the basis of the figures the Department has given us in respect of TAMS, it seemed to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural Schemes: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (3 Jul 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Can it be avoided? Does the Department need to get approval? This is what I am trying to get at. Could the Department stay with the same thing and say to the guys in Brussels "This is working, so off with ye"? Would the Department be within its rights to do that? Is giving more money, or taking it in, a Government decision? With the measures that are there, does the Department have the...