Results 5,001-5,020 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: I thank the members of the joint committee for the invitation to meet them to discuss aquaculture licensing in the context of the report of the independent aquaculture licensing review group. The committee is familiar with the background to the issue, but it is useful to restate the position to avoid confusion. Therefore, my opening statement is intended to provide committee members with a...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: I thank the three members. It is no accident that they are all from Donegal and I appreciate their long-standing interest in this issue. Senator Mac Lochlainn made reference to one company, as did the two previous speakers. I visited that facility a number of years ago, long before I was in this position. I appreciate the potential in the sector. It is a relatively new industry in the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: No, but the local authority is responsible for both granting planning permission for a development and for enforcement.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: It is appropriate that my Department has a role. It is one we take seriously. We negotiated substantial funding under the MFF to assist approved and licensed operators to achieve their potential. That is not in any way in conflict with our role to determine a licence.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: We might not agree on this. There are different views on it. I do not see it as a conflict at all. We take all the respective roles extremely seriously. There are many licence applicants who would wish that was not the case, although I appreciate that successful applicants are quite happy with the process. However, there are appeals and checks and balances built into any system. We are...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: The unit operates out of the Department's headquarters in Clonakilty. It is not a large unit. There is recommendation and input in terms of the development process from BIM-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: No. BIM is an independent agency in respect of the development of this-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: The same system operates in the Department in the context of agriculture as well.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: It is squeezed not by virtue of the point the Senator raises but by virtue of the bind that was put on the industry and the Department by the judgment of the European Court of Justice. In the context of that bind we are accelerating the process of licence determination, which is a critical part.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: Senator-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: Sorry, Deputy. I was distracted.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: It is being-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: I am at something of a loss. I appreciate Senator Mac Lochlainn's commitment. He talks about a loss of €1 billion to the sector. Under the European Court of Justice ruling, we negotiated a situation where everybody who had a licence could continue to operate under that licence. With regard to finfish, in the period from 2004 to 2017, the tonnage has increased by almost 30% from...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: I accept that but the licensing regime in Scotland is not exactly a walk in the park either. There are seven different licences-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: I appreciate the point the Senator makes. My ambition, having engaged with the sector, is to have a system that is fit for purpose, delivers on the potential, recognises the rights of applicants and third parties for the process to be fair and transparent, and, as an imperative, deals with the licence backlog. Until we have done that and made determinations on all those backlogs, the first...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: I am not an expert on the Scottish system but I understand it takes over two years and there are seven different approvals or licences within the aquaculture licence system. They may well have had an implementation period. I am not sure that they fell foul in any way of the European Court of Justice in respect of the application of any individual directive. There is-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: I understand that there is not a single cut and paste system which is transferable to all member states. We are grappling with the consequences of all those directives and our own legislation and with framing a licensing process within that that takes account of those things.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: The European Court of Justice found that we were not applying the relevant directive and we then had to amend our licensing process to take account of that. That involved doing an appropriate assessment for all 29 bays identified around the country. That was quite an undertaking. I appreciate the point that Senator Mac Lochlainn makes that we are 11 years on from that but it was a mammoth...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licensing Review Process: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (23 Oct 2018)
Michael Creed: They all operate under the same EU legislation. Some states fall foul of some directives. We fell foul of this one and the European Court of Justice ruling obliged us effectively to go back to the drawing board with our licensing system. I am not an expert. I know the review group looked at international best practice. We have had to build our system from the ground up but secured a...