Results 761-780 of 23,906 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Data (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: As an independent statutory body, staffing levels and filling of vacancies are operational matters for An Rialálaí Agraibhia. I have arranged for the Deputy's question to be forwarded to An Rialálaí Agraibhia. The Deputy may wish contact the Regulator through their dedicated e-mail address for Oireachtas queries at oireachtas@agrifoodregulator.ie.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Veterinary Services (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: In preparing the Regulations, there has been extensive stakeholder engagement over the last four years and all stakeholder views have been considered to find the appropriate balance of routes of supply, medicine availability and cost while meeting our obligations in EU and national legislation. I met with Veterinary Ireland on two occasions, 14th December 2023 and again on 16th July 2024, to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Funding (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department continuously reviews its various arrangements regarding import control checks, of which the use of food detector dogs is one important element. Extensive manual checks and scanning equipment are also used at ports and airports to monitor for illegal imports of food products. There are currently no plans to expand the food detector dog service. My Department provides funding on...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The following table represents the total number of ACRES Tranche 2 applications submitted, withdrawn and currently active per island as of 28th August 2024: - Submitted Withdrawn Active Inis Oírr 35 23 12 Inis Meáin 24 6 18 Inis Mor 46 21 25 As participation in an agri-environment scheme is a five-year commitment, a certain level of withdrawals...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Sheep Improvement Scheme is funded under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. It provides support to sheep farmers for carrying out actions that improve animal health and welfare in the sheep sector. It builds on the progress made by the Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS), which has now come to an end. The scheme opened for applications in November 2022 and closed on 9th January 2023. During this...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Sheep Improvement Scheme is funded under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. It provides support to sheep farmers for carrying out actions that improve animal health and welfare in the sheep sector. It builds on the progress made by the Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS), which has now come to an end. The scheme opened for applications in November 2022 and closed on 9th January 2023. During this...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department administers a wide range of schemes which provide vital support to underpin the continued sustainability and growth of the agri-food sector. I am very much aware of the importance of these supports for farmers, and accordingly, the issuing of payments under these schemes is a matter of priority for my Department. The list of Schemes that experienced payment delays in 2023 and to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Communications (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The European Commission reached political agreement in its trade negotiations with the Mercosur countries in June 2019. Due to concerns raised by a number of Member States, including Ireland, on the environmental and sustainability provisions included in the original agreement, the European Commission and Mercosur recommenced negotiations on an additional joint instrument which they hope will...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Diseases (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The original herd referred to in this question sold two animals on 27 March 2024. These two animals subsequently tested positive on a TB skin test in another herd on 20 June 2024. Under EU and Irish rules relating to the control of bTB my Department is required to suspend the Disease Free Status (DFS) of the herd where a suspected case of bTB occurred until further investigation and an...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: State Bodies (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department will not be pursuing a prosecution in this case.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Harbours and Piers (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Permit parking is being provided at Ros an Mhíl Fishery Harbour Centre by my Department for persons whose normal place of residence is on the Aran Islands. This follows consultation with the three Island Committee Representative Groups and their desire to have islander access to the Fishery Harbour Centre car park facility. It replaces a car park operated under licence until 2021 by the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Earlier this year a decision was made to issue interim payments to ACRES participants who had not received their 2023 advance payment. I announced that this payment would amount to €4,000 for ACRES General Participants and €5,000 for ACRES Cooperative Participants, and that it would be offset against the final ACRES payment for 2023. Accordingly, my Department wrote to all...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: A full review of the processing of the Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme (BISS), ECO Scheme and Organic Scheme payments, is being carried out with regard to the above named persons 2023 scheme applications. Work has already commenced on this and staff of my Department will contact the applicant to advise them of the outcome of this review in due course. Once the review is...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Diseases (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a challenging disease to control and eradicate. I am committed to making real progress in controlling TB as I am aware of the financial and emotional trauma associated with a TB breakdown for farmers. The table below details the number of herds experiencing a new restriction, due to bovine TB, since 1st January each year, by county for the years 2014 to 2023 and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Diseases (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: When cattle are slaughtered as reactors under the TB eradication programme, it is because they have tested positive for infection with TB. It is not routine to culture all TB reactors. Visual inspection of reactor carcases at post-mortem finds that, on average, in the years from 2014 to 2023 a range of 28-39% of such reactors had visible lesions of tuberculosis, meaning the infection has...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Diseases (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Bovine tuberculosis (TB), caused by infection with Mycobacterium bovis, is a persistent problem in cattle herds in Ireland. The epidemiology of TB is complex and challenging. There are three main sources of infection for cattle - the purchase of infected cattle, the presence of residual (undetected) infection within cattle herds and from wildlife (badgers predominately). The relative...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Diseases (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: TB vaccines are currently being used as part of the wildlife programme of the bovine TB programme. My Department has carried out scientific research on the effectiveness of badger vaccination in a number of locations across Ireland over the years, in collaboration with researchers from University College Dublin. A field trial in County Kilkenny using the BCG vaccine and a blind placebo...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Farmers' Charter of Rights has a key role to play in the determining of key targets and timelines in respect of applications, payment, inspections and appeals under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In July, my Department reached agreement with representatives of the main farming organisations on a new Farmers' Charter of Rights. This Charter represents a full update of all targets...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Supports (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The following tables represent the total number of ACRES Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 applications that were approved, withdrawn and that are now currently active per county as of 3rd September 2024. Tranche 1 County Approved applications Withdrawn applications Active applications Carlow 489 19 470 Cavan 1713 68 1645 Clare 3017 83 2934 Cork 3755 136 ...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Advance payments in respect of participation in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) in 2023 commenced in December 2023. By the end of February 2024, 19,719 farmers had been paid a total payment value of €88.4m. However, when it became apparent that additional time would be required to pay the remaining participants, I arranged for nationally funded interim payments to be...