Results 11,601-11,620 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rural Development Programme (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The timing of payments under rural development programme, RDP, schemes is governed by EU regulation and while the norm is that payments issue between 1 December and 30 June of the following year for area based schemes, an advance of up to 75% can be made before 1 December with the balance issuing after all inspections have been initiated. For 2015 and 2016, the Commission moved from a 75%...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rural Development Programme (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: I am slow to give guarantees that I cannot stand over, but it is the ambition in the Department to pay every farmer who has entitlement and we have made adequate budgetary provision in that regard. Some of the remainder of my reply dealt with payments under REPS, which is a previous rural development plan, which shows that these schemes do not fit neatly into five-year boxes. Some spill...

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The Deputy will not accept anything.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Scheme Eligibility (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The Programme for Government commits to the introduction of a scheme for sheep farmers under the Rural Development Programme with a budget of €25 million. I have made provision for this in Budget 2017. The inclusion of this provision in the programme for Government reflects a commitment by the Government to ensuring the continued viability of the sheep sector in Ireland. The sheep...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Data and Genomics Programme (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The completion of a carbon navigator is a central requirement of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) in 2016. The carbon navigator is an online farm management package developed by Bord Bia and Teagasc. It quantifies the environmental gains that can be made on each farm by setting targets in key areas such as grassland management. It is a very useful and simple tool which will...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Scheme Payments (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: Under the Terms and Conditions of the Direct Aid Schemes, which include the Basic Payment Scheme(BPS), farmers are obliged to declare only eligible land when making their annual applications, and are to exclude ineligible features such as roads, buildings, farmyards, dense scrub, etc. These claims are then recorded on the Department’s Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). Given...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agrifood Sector (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: Ireland is a small open economy which exports the vast bulk of its main agricultural commodities. Therefore producer prices in Ireland are largely determined by commodity prices on world markets, rather than by production levels within Ireland itself. We have seen significant commodity price volatility on world markets over the last few years. However, there are measures in place to help...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Commonage Framework Plans (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The objective of the Commonage Management Plan (CMP) is to ensure that farming activity on commonages is carried out at environmentally sustainable levels to prevent both under grazing and over grazing and if necessary to set out collective actions such as controlled burning. My Department provided specific training for approved Commonage Advisors assigned to prepare these plans....

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Oireachtas Joint Committee Recommendations (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: I note that the Deputy refers to a report published by the former Joint Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Fisheries in January 2014 which put forward 29 recommendations on a wide range of issues concerning the functions of a number of Government departments and state agencies. The Deputy has drawn specific attention to the recommendation concerning heritage licences for traditional fishing...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Food Wise 2025 Strategy (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: Food Wise 2025, the ten year strategy for the agrifood sector, identifies the opportunities and challenges facing the sector and provides an enabling strategy that will allow the sector to grow and prosper. Food Wise includes more than 400 specific recommendations, spread across the cross-cutting themes of sustainability, innovation, human capital, market development and competitiveness; as...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dairy Sector (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: I am very aware that following a positive start to 2016,beef farmers have faced a number of challenges as the year has progressed. The immediate impact of Brexit has been seen in our currency exchange rates and has affected our primary major export market. Beef production is also up here and in the UK in 2016. Looking at the market outlook for the remainder of the year it is estimated that...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Natura 2000 (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: My Department has a limited role in relation to this matter. The baseline data referred to by the Deputy in respect of designated Natura 2000 areas (i.e. areas protected under EU Birds-Habitats Directives) is prepared by the Marine Institute in conjunction with the National Parks and Wildlife Service which comes under the remit of the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Afforestation Programme (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The National Forest inventory of 2012 estimated forest cover at 731,650ha or 10.5% of the total land surface of the country. In terms of total forest cover the target is 18% by 2050. The inventory is repeated every 5 years and the 2017 inventory is currently underway. The current Forestry Programme, covering the period 2015-2020, ensures continued State support for the two key objectives...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Organic Farming Scheme Eligibility (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The new Organic Farming Scheme has proved extremely successful, attracting more new applicants than any scheme before, and encouraging a significant number of Irish farmers to convert to organic farming systems. This is a co-funded scheme, supported jointly through the Rural Development Programme by the EU and the Irish Exchequer. At this point in time, the budget allocated to the new...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fishing Industry (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: A high level inter-departmental Task Force was set up by Government in November 2015 following reports of alleged abuses of migrant workers on board Irish fishing vessels. The remit of the Task Force was to examine the issues raised by these reports and to formulate a co-ordinated and effective cross-Government response. The Task Force delivered its report on this matter in December...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Severe Weather Events (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: I fully acknowledge and accept that there are ongoing difficulties being experienced by the farming community, not least by our tillage farmers. This sector is a very important area in the agricultural economy but it has been a challenging year both in terms of market returns and variable weather conditions experienced during the harvest. Only last week, I corresponded in detail with the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Brexit Issues (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: Brexit poses enormous challenges for the Irish agri-food sector as a whole but there are additional and unique challenges for our fishing industry potentially, depending on what the UK seeks to do. Reciprocal access to fishing grounds and shared stocks is one of those key issues. Fish stocks are a shared resource managed under the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union. Nearly...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fish Quotas (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: The EU Commission’s proposal for the 2017 fishing opportunities was published on 27 October and a number of updates to the proposal have been issued throughout November. The levels of Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and the quotas for Ireland will, as usual, be determined at the Council meeting, held on 12 and 13 December. This will involve intensive negotiations with Member States and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Brexit Issues (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: In the course of its analysis to date, my Department has identified a number of medium-to-long term issues that the UK decision to leave the EU gives rise to. Among these is the question of how the EU budget will be affected by the loss of the UK contribution. It is estimated that the loss to the EU budget will be of the order of between 5% and 10%. This could have implications for...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: GLAS Data (30 Nov 2016)

Michael Creed: Almost 15,000 farmers declare commonage annually on their Basic Payment Scheme application. To date 6,578 of these farmers have been approved into the GLAS scheme and I expect this figure to increase when GLAS Tranche 3 applications are submitted, assessed and approved into the scheme. GLAS is a voluntary scheme and is ideally suited for farmers with commonage as they are assured...