Results 6,041-6,060 of 7,985 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: The road projects on which we are to embark need to be included in the plan in black and white. The areas that are to be cities need to be included in black and white. We cannot just have flowery wording while saying nothing.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I have one quick question. When this plan comes out in February, are we going to know whether there will be road infrastructure put in at A, B, C, D and E? Will decisions be made about where exactly rail is going to be provided over the next 20 years? Those issues will be decided by national policy, not county councils. Will they be on the plan? If not, we do not know where we are going.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for their presentation. The witnesses might write down my questions because they will be quick-fire questions and I want accurate answers. Colm McCarthy reckons that 50% of Coillte's estate is unviable. Will the witnesses comment on that? How many acres have been taken out of production for things such as wind turbines? What counties has Coillte bought land in and...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: In that case it is less. It is about 7,000 acres.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I was talking about acres. It is correct there are 1,000 trees per acre?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: If it was 2,500 tress per acre, it would have changed a lot since I was planting. How much of that is new ground and how much of it is reforestation of old ground? Coillte is losing 5% under the new regulations because of drains and having to be 20 metres from rivers. How much is affected by the fact that planting is not allowed in special areas of conservation, SACs? How much ground is...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: People have been waiting since 2007 for Coillte to provide information on the tonnage, who did the thinning, the price it cost and the cost of haulage. It has been a one-way partnership. I will be straight up with the witnesses. With regard to the questions I have asked and the stuff I have gone through, it does not bode well for Coillte to have acted in the manner it has. Coillte has...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: What is being done about them?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: May I make a brief comment?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: There are farmer organisations trying to represent people and they are being fobbed off.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: It is written into a contract that a fee will be charged for the marketing of the timber but the amount of the fee is not mentioned. My understanding is that the fee being charged in this regard is very high. One can sell timber to private operators like PJ Fahy or the Murray Timber Group any day of the week but the farmers are being charged a fee by Coillte for it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: What percentage is the marketing cost?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: What is the percentage cost for clear fell?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: That is high.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: A person who has a five-acre field of timber for sale can ring PJ Fahy or Murray Timber Group and have either of them price it, with no marketing cost involved. What Coillte is doing in terms of marketing costs is unfair.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I would like a response to the other questions I raised.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I would like a response to the other questions I raised.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Where was the land purchased?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Was most of the land purchased in the west?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion (12 Dec 2017)
Michael Fitzmaurice: How many are direct employees of Coillte?