Results 5,461-5,480 of 23,948 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is our current allocation and projection. Obviously, as the year goes on, we manage the budget. Revised Estimates can occur across any budget line as the year goes on. There has been a lot of good engagement between my team, the TB forum and farming organisations on reaching an agreed outcome on how we deal with TB testing in respect of males more than 36 months old and the testing...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I am very much aware of the pressure the sector is under at the moment. It is a changed situation from a few months ago and, indeed, what the situation was last year. The new sheep welfare scheme is kicking off at €12, which is up from €10 previously. As the Deputy said, that is small in the context of the change in price from last year. I have been engaging closely with...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: -----but we have two separate ceilings now. One of the reasons we feel the uptake was not as strong as it might have been in the outgoing TAMS was the opportunity costs of availing of it where farmers would not then be able to use their ceiling for other on-farm capital investment. There are two separate ceilings now. In theory, farmers will be now be able to avail of TAMS for up to...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: What we budgeted for in terms of projections was 30,000 people.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: My objective would be to ensure there are places for those who want to take part. We will move to tranche 2 next year. Obviously, if we do more this year, we have to engage around the budget. To achieve and ensure there is a place for everyone, I have to engage at Government level to secure approval for that. That is something I would seek to do but it would be for down the road.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We have allocated the budget to be able to deliver on our targets. Obviously, we are coming from a low base so we want to make real progress on that this year. A fair amount of the budget is recurring premiums for forestry already in the ground. That is the most significant part of it. We have the new rates now available. Anybody who is planting today can avail of the new rates. There...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Provided that an existing licence is there.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We cannot give a licence today.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: People can make the preparations and do a lot of the work. We are making sure we use the time to clear in order that there is not any lost work time as such. It does require reorientation with regard to work flow. Anybody with an existing licence can plant, however. It is also fair to say that anybody with an existing licence, and this was a challenge in the second half of last year, was...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: They are available under the de minimisfor people who are actually planting now.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: It has to work within state aid rules and that type of requirement in the first instance. I do not believe it can-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: What was the point before the fisheries one?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: On research, they are driving investment into that and doing a lot of good research on beginning to measure soil carbon capture and on food or feed additives, etc. On the decommissioning scheme, I understand the Deputy’s point; it was my initial reaction as well. In the past when decommissioning schemes have been launched and there was not a requirement to decommission the boat, in...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I expect the first part of the land use review to be published pretty soon – in the next couple of weeks.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We discussed it at Cabinet yesterday. It should be published in the next couple of weeks and it will be moving to part 2.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: My objective, if at all possible, is to include all 46,000 and they have shown the appetite to do it. It is a scheme that will deliver significantly for the environment and biodiversity and also contribute to climate emission reductions. We are assessing our capacity, the infrastructure to be able to deliver it efficiently and also then engaging around budget. If it can achieve it so that...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I know the challenge the sheep sector is facing and how tight it has become in the past number of months. The situation has changed significantly for them. As I said in reply to Deputy Fitzmaurice, I am monitoring it closely. I am engaging closely with Bord Bia on what is happening in the market and what we can do. I am looking at the situation closely. There is not anything in the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I am not sure whether it has. As of now, I know the team was working to finalise issues in formal engagement with the Commission. It could not be done before 1 January because the state aid guidelines were only published then. Following on from them being published, there has been informal engagement between my Department and the Commission to try to make sure that when the application...