Results 641-660 of 1,625 for speaker:Pat O'Neill

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Obesity Strategy (1 Apr 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills for taking the two matters on the Adjournment and the Senators for raising the issues.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Apr 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I would like to be associated with the expressions of sympathy to Senator John Kelly on the death of his father. I ask the Leader the following question. When is a student not a student? It seems it is when someone reaches 18 years of age or travels on public transport. I have two issues that I ask the Leader to bring to the attention of the Ministers for Education and Skills, Social...

Seanad: Beef Industry: Motion (26 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: It is not achieving anything.

Seanad: Beef Industry: Motion (26 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: A leopard does not change its spots.

Seanad: Beef Industry: Motion (26 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I welcome the Minister to the House. I agree with many of the sentiments of this Fianna Fáil Private Members' motion. However, I do not support the two paragraphs which refer to a lack of Government action on the issue and complete failure to address farmers' concerns and the need for a beef regulator in terms of oversight of the industry. Despite the many good things said about the...

Seanad: Beef Industry: Motion (26 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: Unfortunately, we live in a world market, by which prices are dictated. It is unfortunate that bull beef prices are low. I have marched with the farmers who have protested about this. I am an active beef producer and as such know what I am talking about in the context of beef prices. The problem is the change in the specification in relation to bull beef. We need to focus on who controls...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: When Bord Bia and the Department opens a new market, what is the input from the factories for supplying that market?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I was in Japan recently and I met Bord Bia's representative. He said that it is coming in at 1,000% more than previously since the Japanese market opened. I know it is a small quantity but it would make a difference of a penny a pound to farmers in this country.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: Where does that come from?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: Was there an explanation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: They are from the dairy herd. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: A specification came in suddenly for Northern Ireland. They are being killed at a discount in Northern Ireland. It is affecting the marts. The Northern buyers are not coming down to buy Southern cattle anymore because when they bring it back up, it is being discounted when they try to sell it to a factory.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: No matter what anyone says, the major factories are operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An animal that is bought in an Irish mart and that crosses the Border to Northern Ireland is discounted. How can that be allowed? How can that happen? That is the multiples or else someone is manipulating the market by doing this. It is affecting people and it will have serious consequences...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I know that, but for years Northern buyers were coming to the marts in the South and buying cattle. They were keeping the price of summer cattle at a reasonable level. There were buying cattle, bringing them to the North, fattening them there and selling them on. There was no cut. Suddenly, these specifications appeared. I never knew anything about specifications like these. They were...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: It was part of the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef and Livestock Sector: Discussion (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. This is the second day we have spent on this issue. The beef industry is in crisis at present. We are hearing that from those involved in it. I am a person who produces beef. I produced bull beef up to this year. I decided not to do so this year. I do not what inspired that decision. I castrated all the animals. I will still have a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sheep Grassland and Single Farm Payments: Irish Farmers Association (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I thank the gentlemen for their presentation. The sheep sector has always lost out under Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, reforms. When there were problems with the suckler herd, the Minister tried to keep people in that business, for example, by introducing genomic schemes, etc. In the EU, unfortunately, one cannot get money for nothing. The only possible approach is a payment coupled to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sheep Grassland and Single Farm Payments: Irish Farmers Association (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: Would the IFA drop the STAP?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sheep Grassland and Single Farm Payments: Irish Farmers Association (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: So, the €18 million-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sheep Grassland and Single Farm Payments: Irish Farmers Association (25 Mar 2014)

Pat O'Neill: I just want to ask a supplementary question. The figure would be €18 million plus the €3 million in the STAP.