Results 12,341-12,360 of 18,482 for speaker:Brendan Smith
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (1 Jun 2010)
Brendan Smith: The sale of goods in a public place is a matter covered by the Casual Trading Act 1995. The enforcement of this Act is the responsibility of the Local Authority in whose functional area the goods are sold. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation has responsibility for the Casual Trading Act 1995. The Local Authority with responsibility for implementing the Control of Horses Act...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (1 Jun 2010)
Brendan Smith: The person named has received his full REPS payment for 2009; 75% of the payment issued on 23 February 2010 and the remaining 25% issued on 22 March. No payments for 2010 can be released until administrative checks have been completed on every participant's payment application. This process involves a cross-check with the IACS database, which cannot be done until the database has been...
- Written Answers — Beef Imports: Beef Imports (1 Jun 2010)
Brendan Smith: Under EU harmonized legislation a series of health and supervisory requirements are applied in the Member States to ensure that animal products are produced to standards that guarantee the safety of food and the protection of human and animal health. The application of these standards in the Member States is monitored by the FVO (Food & Veterinary Office) of the EU. It is a requirement that...
- Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (1 Jun 2010)
Brendan Smith: Arrangements are in place to deal effectively with the REPS 4 files which were submitted to the Department's local office in Killarney. Files are being actively processed and have been brought to payment stage where possible. Those with outstanding queries have been referred back to the applicants.
- Written Answers — Harbours and Piers: Harbours and Piers (1 Jun 2010)
Brendan Smith: Kerry County Council proposes to construct a new pier at Cromane. The proposed pier will be the property of that Local Authority who will be responsible for its development, maintenance and repair. No arrangements have been put in place for a visit to Cromane in the near future.
- Written Answers — Fisheries Protection: Fisheries Protection (1 Jun 2010)
Brendan Smith: The Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) has made a proposal to my Department concerning a limited Sea Bass fishery in the Celtic Sea. In the proposal, the FIF have stated that they will take a "precautionary approach to avoid any fishing whatsoever of the Irish inshore stock". The FIF has specifically proposed that vessels would be permitted to land only Sea Bass caught south of (51.30'N) in...
- Written Answers — Aquaculture Licences: Aquaculture Licences (1 Jun 2010)
Brendan Smith: There are 488 aquaculture licence applications awaiting determination â this consists of 259 applications for first time licences and 229 renewal applications. The backlog in the processing of new and renewal licence applications largely arises because the majority of areas for which the licences are sought are designated Special Areas of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive and/or...
- Written Answers — Departmental Communications: Departmental Communications (27 May 2010)
Brendan Smith: The details requested by Deputy Kenny in relation to the Department's websites are provided in the following table: Website Name Annual maintenance cost (ex vat) for each site in 2010 (to date) Annual maintenance cost (ex vat) for each site in 2009 http://www.agriculture.gov.ie â¬7,306.69 â¬7,306.69 http://www.fawac.ie â¬62.99 â¬62.99 http://www.fishingnet.ie â¬69.99 â¬69.99...
- Written Answers — Rural Environment Protection Scheme: Rural Environment Protection Scheme (27 May 2010)
Brendan Smith: A number of REPS 4 plans produced using eREPS included chemical phosphorus levels which appeared to be in excess of the levels permitted. This situation was not caused by any deficiency in the eREPS system but because instructions for using the system were not followed. To try to prevent this happening again, work was carried out in February 2010 on the eREPS system to provide additional...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (27 May 2010)
Brendan Smith: Payment in full for 2009 has issued to 1,736 out of a total of 1,898 Donegal farmers who applied to participate in REPS 4. The remaining 162 cases are being processed as issues outstanding are being resolved and full payments will be made as soon as possible in these cases.
- Written Answers — Harbours and Piers: Harbours and Piers (27 May 2010)
Brendan Smith: Greencastle harbour is owned by Donegal County Council and the maintenance and development of the harbour is the responsibility of the Council in the first instance. My Department has, however, in recent years, project managed works on phase 1 of the Greencastle Harbour development project on behalf of Donegal County Council as well as providing funding. The position with regard to...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (27 May 2010)
Brendan Smith: My officials have now received satisfactory clarification from the Revenue Commissioners on this matter. Processing of the payment will now take place and it will issue to the applicant in the coming days.
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (27 May 2010)
Brendan Smith: REPS 3 participants were paid for a twelve months period in advance at each anniversary of the start of their contract. Almost all of the final-year payments to participants in REPS 3, the last version of the scheme to which this payment arrangement applies, have now issued. Participants in REPS 4 are paid in respect of each calendar year rather than for each twelve-month contract period....
- World Trade Negotiations (26 May 2010)
Brendan Smith: I conveyed our Government's serious reservations about the decision to re-engage in negotiations with Mercosur directly to Commissioner Ciolos when I spoke to him on Monday, 17 May. In my discussion with him, I expressed our deep concerns over the decision to relaunch the negotiations and the threat which these negotiations could pose for Irish and European agriculture, at a time of great...
- 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...