Results 7,781-7,800 of 24,065 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fishing Industry (31 May 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The data requested by the Deputy is held by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) and I have referred the query to them for direct written response to the Deputy. As the Deputy will be aware, Ireland does not have a national quota for Bluefin tuna. A small Bluefin by-catch quota is available to Ireland, primarily for use in our important Northern Albacore Tuna fishery...

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

Charlie McConalogue: Water quality is essential. We have to take steps to improve it and the regulation of nitrogen and fertiliser is important in that regard. It also delivers in reducing emissions. There will be great potential over the years ahead to work towards using more clover in swards and multispecies swards, which reduces significantly the need for chemical fertiliser but is also beneficial from a...

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

Charlie McConalogue: In the context of the Ukrainian crisis, significant implications are being seen across all sectors, particularly the agrifood sector. I assure the Deputy that the illegal invasion of Ukraine and its impacts on our farm families continue to be the number one priority for me and the Department since the invasion occurred. At farm level, the crisis has been impacting significantly on the...

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

Charlie McConalogue: I am aware that Deputy Griffin has advocated strongly on this issue. On the need to support farmers with costs, the €1,000 we have provided for fodder production costs over the summer will be important in that regard. We did not apply that payment to the dairy sector in general because, thankfully, we are seeing record prices for milk. Teagasc figures will show that the increase in...

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

Charlie McConalogue: There is a very important role for milk contracts, including fixed-price milk contracts going forward. In general, these contracts provide support for farmers given the fluctuations in markets. It is also important that there are safeguards in place for farmers around that. Lessons need to be learned from the experience in that regard in recent months. It is a matter for the co-operatives...

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

Charlie McConalogue: As highlighted previously, the Climate Action Plan 2021 sets very ambitious and challenging targets for the agriculture and land use sector in reducing emissions as a key contribution to the overall economy-wide 51% target by 2030. My policy approach to achieving our climate targets in the agriculture, land use and forestry sectors centres on four different drivers of change. The first...

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

Charlie McConalogue: To take Deputy McNamara's points first, I want to ensure that farmers are getting an income from those schemes. It is important that the conditions of the schemes are met in order to make sure that the income is available. If we can ensure that farmers do what they normally do and grow grass as well as they normally do, using the land that they have, we will be in a good position next year....

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

Charlie McConalogue: I have asked for that. It is disappointing that we have not had action on it yet but I have been asking for it.

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...