Results 7,681-7,700 of 23,957 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this issue. It is proposed, as part of Ireland’s draft CAP strategic plan which is currently with the European Commission for approval, that there will be two approaches within the new agri-environment scheme. As I outlined earlier, there will be standard or general agri-environment climate measures, AECM, involving a range of actions that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Co-operation and collaboration between farmers is needed to deliver the results we want and we now have a mechanism to enable that to happen. Over the last two or three decades, there has been a decline in biodiversity, not just in Ireland but across the world, and a biodiversity crisis has emerged. This is something we have to take really seriously and to reverse and this scheme is crucial...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this point. If he provides further details and data on it, I will certainly have it considered and assessed. The Department has worked with the National Parks and Wildlife Service using the available evidence, intelligence and data to identify the areas where co-operative projects would work and deliver results and where collaboration is needed. In...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy. The consultation process was done in a depth that was never done before. There has been immense opportunity for the Deputy's party and other parties to feed into that through the consultation process.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Sinn Féin did engage in the written consultation process. The Deputy would not get what was important and valuable in the process because he did not show up to any of the marts to listen to the farmers who were sharing their views. Some of those meetings lasted for three or four hours. The engagement and feedback were phenomenal. There were many different perspectives and varying...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The real and detailed engagement with the plan does not happen through a to and fro on the floor of the Dáil. It happens by getting down and engaging directly with the farming community it impacts. That is the approach we have taken and that is why I believe this CAP strategic plan is balanced and will serve farming well for the years ahead.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Costs (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. It is proposed as part of Ireland's draft CAP strategic plan, which is currently with the European Commission for approval, that there will be two approaches within the EU agri-environment climate measure, AECM. The first approach will be an environmental approach that offers a range of actions that individual farmers may undertake. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Costs (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Pardon me.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Costs (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I apologise to Deputy Tóibín. The current situation around the cost and availability of farm inputs remains a significant concern. The impact the invasion of Ukraine is having on our farm families has been the number one priority the Department in recent months. It will continue to be prioritised. Fertiliser prices have increased significantly over the past 12 months and,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Costs (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: That is the objective behind the fodder support scheme I have introduced, which is paying €100 per hectare, up to a maximum of €1,000 for 10 ha. That is intended to support farmers with the cost challenges involved in growing silage and saving hay this year. We, as a Government, very much recognise the difficulties at this time. The cost of fertiliser, in particular, has...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: There is great potential for the use of feed additives to reduce methane. Seaweed is one of the options that can deliver on that. Other products are also coming on the market. Teagasc has carried out tests to assess how that would work in an Irish situation. The assessment suggests it can deliver a reduction of approximately 30% in methane, which is quite exciting and offers considerable...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I know the Deputy has been advocating for farmers to maximise the potential to produce energy in the years ahead as has the Government. Regarding the joined-up thinking that will be required to drive progress on this, we are engaged on a cross-Department basis to ensure the systems talk to one another so that it ultimately works at farm level. We need to support farmers to put the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: It has always been my policy to conform to the highest standards when it comes to stakeholder and public consultation. I believe farmer engagement, through farm organisations as well as directly with farmers in my tour of the mart network last year, was really important in framing this CAP programme and the CAP strategic plan I submitted to Brussels. This has been the case in the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: We put a massive effort into engaging and consulting. We never previously had such extensive consultation. There were many different views and I believe we reached a balanced and strong CAP plan. The mart meetings were very important. It had not been finalised at that stage; it fed into the finalisation of it. I visited 26 counties as part of that. We had a great engagement with the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Fodder Crisis (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I recognise the efforts farmers are making and the response they are showing. Costs, including fertiliser costs, certainly have gone up and there are other challenges too. Farmers are recognising the absolute importance of growing grass. We also are seeing them take on board the advice from Teagasc in regard to the efficient use of organic manure. We have a lot of latent potential in this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Fodder Crisis (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputies for their questions. The Ministers of State, Deputy Heydon and Senator Hackett, and I have been very proactive as a team in working with the farming organisations to address the challenges that are there and to ensure we make the preparations now in order to be secure next April and May. I brought all the farmer representatives together immediately after the invasion of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Fodder Crisis (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: This time last year, the price of milk was 35 cent a litre.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Fodder Crisis (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Today, it is 50 cent a litre and the cost of production has gone up by an estimated 7 cent in the meantime. Therefore, the costs are being more than covered by the prices being made. Indeed, the estimate is that profitability will be very strong on dairy farms this year.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Fodder Crisis (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: This particular issue is not about covering all sectors. It is about growing grass and making sure agriculture, as a sector, is secure. That is why we are targeting the available funding at the beef and sheep sectors, which, as the evidence is showing, need that support to generate the activity to make the whole sector secure.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (26 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy for his question. As he is aware, the agriculture sector is required to reduce emissions by between 22% to 30% by 2030, based on a 2018 baseline of 23 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent. This is a challenging target for the sector, but it is one that also will present opportunities for farmers. Our farm families are committed to taking a leadership role in meeting our overall...