Results 6,921-6,940 of 10,843 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: The figure I have is 5,000 in early November. The trajectory is going in the right direction, but I am sure the Minister will agree that the reduction is not steep enough just yet. In relation to that-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is a reduction of 300 since November. The Minister mentioned a number of times that the take-up rate for afforestation licences, that is, the actual implementation from receiving a licence to planting, is approximately 60%. It appears to be spectacularly low in that people go to the effort of securing a licence, and the afforestation process is not an easy one to go through, but then do...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: Direct contact is being made with those farmers who have not-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: In addition to making contact with the landowners involved, which is welcome and important ongoing work, we should also audit and carry out extensive research into why those with planting licences are not planting. As the Minister said, the level of work, cost and man-hours involved is substantial so we should not allow that to go to waste in the case of 40% of the licences issued when there...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I have a number of other points which I wish to raise but I will allow others to contribute if they wish to do so.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: On programme C, the allocation to Teagasc has been more or less static for the past number of years. Considering the reliance which so many sectors have on Teagasc-led research, is the Minister satisfied that its budget is sufficient to do all that we have been asking it to do? In every sector we discuss at this committee, we refer to the need to Teagasc to carry out some work. Is its...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I thank the Minister for his reply. On subhead C10, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, loan scheme, reads as a decrease from €18.7 million to €13.2 million. Is that new money or is it the case that when money is repaid, it goes back into the pot? In other words, can it be re-loaned or is this an actual decrease in the money available?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: My understanding is that the money that is allocated for agricultural programmes is almost 100% utilised, which is obviously positive. What I am trying to get at here is an understanding of whether, when farmers are repaying their loans, that funding comes back for reissuing or is that the end of funding in the scheme and we then rely on whatever the headline figure is on subhead C10?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: My apologies; I am probably not explaining myself properly. Last year, in the 2021 Estimate figure, some €18.7 million was available under these loans. Assuming they were all drawn down, farmers would have been repaying that money. When that money is repaid to the banks, does it become available to be reissued under the same scheme or are new farmers who apply relying wholly on the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I will move on to programme D, for which the allocation increased by €30 million or thereabouts. Does that increase include the €25 million announced for Rossaveal Harbour? With Deputy Mairéad Farrell, I have met campaigners in the area a number of times, so I welcome that funding. For clarification, will that funding come out of the budget allocation before us?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: The full €25 million is not coming out of the increase of €30 million in this Estimate. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: Will the funding required to implement recommendations in the seafood task force report be drawn down entirely from the Brexit adjustment reserve fund, will it come from these Estimates or does the Minister plan to bring in Revised Estimates?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: That is all from me.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: The Minister was part of the decision to award an increase of €81,000 in the salary of the Secretary General of the Department of Health. The Minister has talked about some of the deliberations involved. Will he remind us who brought the proposal for €81,000 specifically to him and to the other senior members of the Cabinet who were part of this decision?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: No. I just want to know who it was. Who was the individual or section or Department that brought that specific figure to the Minister's attention for approval?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is a very simple question. Was it the Minister for Health who brought the proposal for €81,000 to that meeting or was it somebody else who-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I take it that the Minister is not going to answer the question.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Matt Carthy: I will ask my second question. Did the Minister, in his role, question that figure? Did he ask why it was not €51,000 or €101,000 as opposed to €81,000? Was he happy, on the basis of the information that was brought to his attention, that €81,000 was a fair increase to be sought for this position in the context he has outlined?