Results 5,501-5,520 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fish Exports (7 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: Food Wise 2025 has identified the seafood industry as one of the key drivers of export growth for Ireland’s agri-food sector and the value of seafood exports reached €666 million in 2017, a 10% increase year-on-year. The main driver of export growth was Irish Organic Salmon increasing in value by 69% from €71 to €121 million. Other export products such as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: I thank the Chairman and the committee for the invitation to address this afternoon's meeting. As members will know, 2018 has presented the agricultural community with some of the most challenging weather conditions in recent memory. Significant storms and an exceptionally wet spring period was followed almost immediately by two months of exceptionally dry hot weather. This placed an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: I thank Deputies Cahill and Penrose, as well as the Chairman, for their questions. I should emphasise that I acknowledge that it has been extremely challenging inside the farm gate physically, financially and from a general well-being perspective for a profession that is practised substantially in isolation. We should never underestimate that particular aspect of this challenge. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: The work of the stakeholder group, the Department, Teagasc and, indeed, myself has been ongoing across the summer and through the month of August. The question Deputy McConalogue poses is how to close the gap. There is no single instrument that will close the gap. I could not agree more with Senator Paul Daly that imports alone will not solve the problem. The fear was that in flying that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: Our support is approximately €50 per tonne on imports. My understanding is that the destinations are substantially France, Spain and Italy for alfalfa primarily.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: I was there recently.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: To take up Deputy O'Keeffe's comments, we look at it from different perspectives. Sometimes I pick up the media commentary on this and I have a different reaction in this regard to that of Deputy O'Keeffe. That is not motivated by having a thin skin towards commentary on the efforts we have been making but rather the fact that all of this is played out in a transparent context with our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: We had a situation where the banks did not make profit and it was a more problematic issue for us.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: There are two sides to that debate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: No. The Department approves applications to be an importer. As I said earlier, we have approximately 17 approved importers at the moment, between co-ops and others. Normally people will have a track record in previous import regimes. I think it is approximately 17 at the moment that have been approved. They are the best-placed people. They are in the marketplace and they have contacts...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: I sincerely thank the members for their contributions and will deal with the points raised by Deputies Murphy O'Mahony, Fitzmaurice and the Chairman. Deputy Murphy O'Mahony raised the issue of access to finance. She instanced the case of paying €700 to an accountant to make a loan application to a bank. People can judge for themselves the wisdom of doing that. I certainly was not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: The Deputy also made commentary about the store lamb trade. My understanding based on the advice available to me is that on the contrary the store lamb trade is quite strong at the moment. He referred to the decimation of the suckler herd. I do not know what his definition of decimation is. I acknowledge there has been a reduction in the suckler herd. The greatest reductions came in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: I am sorry. In regard to the importers, we have an open mind about approving applications provided the applicant can assure us that he or she can meet the de minimisrequirements and administrative procedures necessary in respect of the scheme, which are the same for everybody. It is not just the dairy co-operatives; other non-co-operative structures have also received approval to import....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: I am not sure what the Deputy has in mind regarding what I should do with the factories or beef operators. I am clear in respect of the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: The point I am making about my function is that I cannot tell the beef factories to pay a certain amount next week. There is a difference in the ownership structure. The co-operatives are owned by the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: We track the prices here relative to the prices across the European Union to allow us to compare like with like. We are obliged to make weekly or monthly reports on that to the Commission. Our prices often stand up in respect of comparability, by which I mean the price paid to farmers here relative to prices paid elsewhere. Bear in mind that a processor here exports 90% of what it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Shortages and Drought Issues: Discussion (4 Sep 2018)

Michael Creed: I apologise for not responding on that point, which the Chairman raised in his contribution. We are one of the few EU member states that does not have an insurance-based model for dealing with circumstances such as fodder shortages and drought as part of its toolbox under the Common Agricultural Policy. Given the frequency with which events like this are occurring, that option should be...

Other Questions: Brexit Supports (12 Jul 2018)

Michael Creed: Our track record in the context of the objectives set out in Food Wise 2025 strategy is strong. We had a €150 million loan scheme for farmers lending at 2.95%, we had the €300 million loan scheme and we are working on the detail of the next scheme which will make funds available to farmers for investment purposes. It is a significant start. There are a lot of moving parts in...

Other Questions: Brexit Supports (12 Jul 2018)

Michael Creed: I do not always believe every headline I read in the Irish Farmers' Journal.

Other Questions: Brexit Supports (12 Jul 2018)

Michael Creed: As I said earlier, our track record is that we have delivered two products to the market, one totalling €300 million earlier this year and a previous one totalling €150 million, and we are working on the third product. I have always said it would be the second half of 2018 before the product would be delivered.