Results 12,201-12,220 of 18,328 for speaker:Brendan Smith

World Trade Negotiations (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: As Deputy Creed quite rightly says, we are all very concerned about this proposal. It is no secret, and it has been in the public domain, that President Barroso, head of the European Commission, has been the driving force behind this particular initiative to re-open these talks. It is no secret either that there were robust discussions at the college meeting of the Commissioners in early...

World Trade Negotiations (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: I would not underestimate the commitment or the capacity of the new Commissioner, who is totally committed to the agriculture sector and to maximising the best possible budget we all want post-2013 towards an adequately resourced CAP. At the Council of Ministers, Ireland, together with France, Austria, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Poland, submitted a joint paper which was discussed at the...

Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: The continuation of a strong decoupled direct payments system is of fundamental importance, in my view, to stabilising farm incomes at times of market volatility. Decoupled payments remain the best way of underpinning the incomes of small family farms, while allowing them respond to market opportunities. In this context, it is essential to acknowledge the linkage between the income...

Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: The point made by Deputy Sherlock is that, regardless of the mechanism, we need to have some stability in income. We need to put a floor on farmers' incomes. The best way this has been achieved to date is through the direct payment system. Allied to the stabilisation of income, we also need to achieve stability through anti-volatility measures. As I have said in the House a number of...

Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: Deputy Sherlock makes a valid point about the divergence of opinion. We are much in favour of direct payments, but some within our own country will argue that the reference period should be changed. If we did an analysis of agriculture overall, we would see that not much has changed over a period of eight to ten years in terms of the number of people participating and the types of activity...

Departmental Agencies (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: The Irish National Stud Company Limited, INS, is a commercial State body established in 1946 and is a company registered under the Companies Act. It does not receive grant aid from the State. The INS is operating in a competitive international environment and the international bloodstock industry has not been immune from the consequences of the global economic downturn in recent years. The...

Departmental Agencies (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: It was in the context of ensuring the best possible value for money in State expenditure that I wrote to all bodies under the aegis of my Department in October 2008 and November 2009. The INS does not receive any grant aid from the Department. The first time I became aware of the expenses issues was on 18 September 2009, when I wrote to the chairman of the INS asking for a full account of...

Departmental Agencies (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: I do not accept the Deputy's contention. The chairman of the Irish National Stud has assured me that the company has in the past and will continue in the future to comply with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies. I emphasised the continuing need for the company to ensure it fully complies with all corporate governance requirements. The chairman and the newly appointed...

Departmental Agencies (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: It is the duty of the board to manage, lead and direct the day-to-day operations of the company. Industrial relations and human resources issues are a matter for the board. I understand some of those issues are before the courts and I will not elaborate on them here. The linkage between any Department and the boards under its remit is through their chairman. It is the chairman of the...

Departmental Agencies (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: No. A director of a company-----

Grant Payments (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: My starting point is that I see no compelling reason to change from the current historical model for determining single payments. That model has a distinct advantage in linking the payment with level of farming activity, albeit activity in 2000 to 2002. I have made my views on the benefits of the historic model clear at meetings of the Council of Ministers and in bilateral discussions with...

Grant Payments (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: Deputy Sherlock has made some interesting points. However, I can envisage that there are views expressed by the socialist group in the European Parliament which Deputy Sherlock would not propagate in Ireland and which his party would not support. We should all be careful in quoting fellow members of our group. I met Mr. Lyon when he visited Ireland along with Irish MEPs from that committee...

Grant Payments (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: I outlined our preferred option and I do not believe there will be any disagreement in this House. There was no disagreement in the committee on the occasions I attended. We want direct payments retained. We want adequate and improved market support measures. That reflects the important comment the Deputy made earlier about income stabilisation. We must have adequate anti-volatility...

Grant Payments (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: The Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, is taking that question.

Grant Payments (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: Can we move on and go back to it?

Grant Payments (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: No.

Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: I apologise to Deputy Doyle on that particular issue but if there is any mix-up I will meet Deputy Doyle following Question Time and give him the exact details.

Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: No. Since the first policy debate took place under the French Presidency in September 2008 on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy, I have been fully engaged with the EU Commission and my colleagues in other member states to present the Irish position. I have participated in all policy debates under subsequent Presidencies and I have had informal discussions with a number of my...

Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: It would be well known that the 12 most recently acceded countries to the European Union have voiced strong opposition to the current system of payments. They regard the current system as being unfair to them. That is their strong view and they have been very vocal in that regard. Some of the member states that would have been supportive of the historic model in the past are not...

Common Agricultural Policy (26 May 2010)

Brendan Smith: I would have mentioned it previously both in this House and earlier during Question Time that the Department has been doing a great deal of work on different models. Our work is not complete. I can give the spokespersons some access to the particular data on a confidential basis if they can understand where we are coming from in that particular respect. I have made the point continually and...