Results 11,341-11,360 of 23,950 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I am fully aware of the issues facing the forestry sector and the timber industry and no efforts have been made to address them. The Department has invested heavily in both ecologist and forestry Inspector resources to meet the needs of the licencing system and this has resulted in gains in licensing output. To 7th May 2021 1,085 new forestry licences have issued this year,...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Grant Payments (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The person named was approved into GLAS 1 and has received payments for scheme years 2015 – 2020. The person named was selected for an on-farm inspection in 2018 and subsequently requested a review of the inspection findings. Following a re-inspection in 2019, the person named is due outstanding payments in respect of the Low Input Permanent Pasture action. Processing of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: Over 470 felling licences have been issued so far in 2021 for both public and private forest owners. In all cases, the Department assesses the information that is available to them on a case-by-case basis to decide if this information is sufficient to either issue the licence or seek further information. In the case of harvest or replanting plans, these are not a legal...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The objective of the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) was to provide temporary exceptional adjustment aid to farmers in the beef sector in Ireland subject to the conditions set out in EU Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1132. BEAM was funded by a combination of EU exceptional aid and Exchequer support. One of the conditions under which the €50 million was...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Grant Payments (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The person named person an application under the 2020 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) on 6th April 2020. A number of parcels were declared as eligible by the person named in their application.  In order to be eligible for payment under BPS, applicants must hold entitlements and have eligible land to accompany each entitlement. There are a...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: All road users have a responsibility not to damage public roads and the forestry sector is no different. The forest sector and the Department work with other parties on the issue of timber haulage. The  Department is a member of the Forest Industry Transport Group (FITG) which was formed in 1998 to address issues specific to timber haulage in Ireland.  The main...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sustainable Development Goals (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I published the Department's Statement of Strategy for the period 2021 to 2024 on 14th April 2021. The Strategy was developed taking into consideration the Department’s role in contributing to the delivery of five Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in leading on twelve specific targets, but also sharing responsibility for another twenty-one targets with other...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sustainable Development Goals (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: Overall political oversight for national Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation is provided through the Cabinet, with each Minister having specific responsibility for implementing individual SDG targets related to their Ministerial functions. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has responsibility for promoting the SDGs and for overseeing their...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Social Media (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The Department has not engaged a third party to conduct social media monitoring or to provide reports on social media coverage of the Department. The Department has engaged a third-party company, Truehawk Media, to monitor print, broadcast and online news media. The expenditure to date in 2021, excluding VAT, for this service has been €7,000.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Social Media (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: As part of their duties, a Higher Executive Officer in my Department’s Communications Division, with the support of an Executive Officer, monitors the Department’s official social media accounts. This includes providing reports on an ad-hoc basis which represents a very limited time commitment in the context of their overall duties in Communications Division.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Investigations (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has not engaged any private investigation companies or persons in the past three years to date. As regards the twelve State Bodies under the aegis of my Department, the information requested is an operational matter for the State Bodies themselves. I have referred the Deputy’s question to the Agencies and have requested that a...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Grant Payments (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: Under the terms and conditions of Year 3 of the Sheep Welfare scheme, the person named was selected for an administrative check to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the scheme. The person named initially submitted incorrect supporting documentation. However, following correspondence with the Department, the required supporting documentation was...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department has approved 1,937 new hectares for planting so far this year. There is also a carryover of approx 4,500 approved hectares which are available for planting. By the end of April, 675 new hectares have been afforested, of these 374 hectares have been planted with conifer trees and 301 hectares have been planted with broadleaf trees.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department has no role regarding bridleways or horse trails. The funding that is made available to the sport horse industry from my Department and paid to Horse Sport Ireland is for equine breeding programmes. Coillte CGA was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act, 1988 and day-to-day operational matters, such as the management of their forest estate, are...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The Climate Action Plan 2019 sets the target for afforestation at 8,000 ha per annum and the target of forest roadworks at 125km per annum. While there are no specific targets for felling, the COFORD Roundwood Forecast predicts a potential harvest of 4.1 million cubic metres in 2021. The Department has committed to issuing 4,500 forestry licences this...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Flood Risk Management (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The OPW flooding layer is a useful indicative guide for the sector and for Department’s Forestry Inspectors to help determine if land is suitable for planting.  Lands in the flood layer are not automatically ruled out but the layer certainly highlights a risk to be further examined.   Where there are doubts in relation to the suitability of a site for planting, a...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Grant Payments (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The Results-based Environment- Agri, Pilot project (REAP) closed for applications on 10th May 2021.  The REAP terms and conditions state that any applicant who has been a participant in specific EIP projects as listed in Annex 3, including the Hen Harrier project, since January 1st 2021 was not eligible to apply to join the REAP project. The information available to the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Data Protection (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The number of data breaches recorded by my Department, since 2016, are outlined in the table below.  The current operational procedure is that low risk breaches are not reported to the Data Protection Commission (DPC). Year No. 2016 5 2017 10 2018 35 2019 50 ...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Grant Payments (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The modelling exercise referred to was published in response to some of the possible proposals for direct payments in the new CAP that are emerging as part of the trilogue process. Answering the specific questions: 1. The Commission have instructed that the value of payment entitlements must be calculated with reference to the current entitlement unit value plus greening and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Food Industry (18 May 2021)

Charlie McConalogue: The establishment of a new Office of a National Food Ombudsman or Regulator is a key Programme for Government commitment. The new Office will have a role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland and will also incorporate Enforcement Authority functions required by the Unfair Trading Practices Directive. I signed the Statutory Instrument (SI) transposing Directive...