Results 5,861-5,880 of 23,948 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: No, listen, let us deal with the facts.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Let us deal with the facts and let us be proportionate.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: We will deal with that too, but let us deal with the facts-----
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Let us deal with the facts and let us be proportionate. When both of us came into office, I was a month or two after the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, we both came to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. There was a crisis in forestry. It was on the floor. We had a massive backlog, which had evolved from a change in a court case back in 2017 that meant every licence...
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: There was a backlog of some 6,000 licences at that stage. This was 6,000 licences waiting for more than 120 days. That is what we faced when we came in three years ago. I remember back to Christmas 2020 when sawmills across the State were running out of wood. They could not get it. I remember the crisis meetings we were having-----
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: We will always hear from you after the fact. I am dealing with the reference to the Minister of State being the worst Minister since 1946.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Let us deal with facts. There was a massive backlog. Over the last two years, by addressing the backlog that was there waiting for us when we came in, we took it from a situation where back in August 2021 it had built up to 6,000 licences waiting more than 120 days to be decided. We now have that down to 1,983 waiting more than 120 days. It is coming down every week.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Let us also look at-----
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Before Christmas we published the biggest forestry policy premiums ever in the history of the State.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Listen. The Deputies do not want to hear the facts.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: There are 60% increases in premiums. The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, has done this. In the outgoing programmes there are premiums for only 15 years if one is a farmer or a non-farmer. We have increased it for farmers from 15 years to 20 years.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Farmers now will get a one third extra premium than a non-farmer and can claim their basic payment scheme entitlements under that land too, which a non-farmer cannot do. This is what we have run out. The annual premium per hectare for native trees is €1,137 under the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and the Government's programme.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: This is €1,137 for 20 years.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: It is unprecedented.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Our message to the farmers across the country is that we want farmers to consider----
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: -----whether they can incorporate some forestry into their land and whether they can make income from that. Deputy Healy-Rae is shrewd and has a good eye for enterprise whenever he sees it. I hold out that whenever that forestry programme was announced the Deputy would have been looking at it in good detail to see if there was an opportunity in there with regard to where-----
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Fair play that it was 25 years ago. If it made sense 25 years ago then I am sure that Deputy Healy-Rae knows better than anyone that it makes even more sense now and that it pays even better now. For every farmer that income will be tax free.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Our whole message to farmers is-----
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: Our whole message to farmers is that we are backing them and we are providing options. We are providing really good income. If a farmer has an acre or two, or a hectare or two, on the farm, what a farmer could bring in through forestry makes a hell of a lot of sense.
- Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2023)
Charlie McConalogue: It is all about backing farmers. That forestry programme is the best that has been introduced in the State. It will really see a significant change. We have now moved out of the crisis situation and are now getting into an equilibrium. We are driving down that backlog. It is about driving that along and backing farmers to do it, while putting farmers at the centre. Coillte also has a...