Results 13,101-13,120 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: More than half. We can get the Deputy a detailed briefing on them.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: They are done on the basis of the total number of licences for each bay. We have carried out 509 assessments and there are 328 remaining to be done. I will obtain a more detailed briefing note for Deputy Pringle.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: I do not have the information with me, but I will get it for the Deputy.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: I will come back to the Deputy with a more detailed note. I think it was Deputy D'Arcy who raised the issue of TAMS, which I know will be of interest to members. We faced choices in the Department. We could have slowed down the roll-out of individual programmes. We went with the maximum possible roll-out at the earliest possible date. We are struggling to put in place the appropriate...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: I am responding to the questions that were asked.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: A new charter of farmers' rights was negotiated and came into effect in 2015 following consultation with the various farm organisations. A monitoring committee, under the chairmanship of Dr. Seán Brady, is charged with the ongoing review of the charter. The committee is supposed to meet four times each year. We aspire to meet but we do not always do so. The staff in the Department...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: We can do that. The data are available in respect of the subhead for additional staff. Provision is made for 200 staff in terms of critical areas where we see-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: No. Some of it would relate to IT systems. The lack of appropriate IT systems would have been one of the issues that delayed the TAM scheme. We did not have the IT systems necessary to deal with the complexity of that scheme. We are rebuilding some of the capacity dismantled during a period when resources were scarce.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: I will forward a detailed note on that issue to members.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: The focus of programme B is to promote and enhance the already high standards of food safety, consumer protection, animal health and welfare and plant health. A total allocation of €218 million has been made under this programme for 2016. The programme represents the country's key defences against animal and plant disease threats through the implementation of food and feed safety...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: I will deal with the last point first, if I may. I acknowledge that there is a specific issue in Wicklow. In fact, the incidence of TB in Wicklow to date this year is 5.67% which is well ahead of the national average of 2.73%. I note the point Deputy Cahill made in respect of the possible contribution of deer to that increase in TB incidence. There is a non-statutory Irish deer management...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: I understand it is just the PI. I will clarify that.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: The ex gratiapayment is seen as a way of accelerating that. To be fair, we would not want to overstate it either. The incidence has gone from 0.66% in 2013 to 0.33% in 2015

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: The Department works closely with Animal Health Ireland in this area. We did introduce an ex gratiapayment in 2016 to fund the removal of animals. No one is going to make much money on the scheme but it does help. I appreciate the difficulty for any neighbouring herdowner whose herd becomes infected through no fault of his own. However, we would not want to overstate the significance of...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: There is an issue with the food chain generally. The people who feel most cheated in the food chain are the primary producer and the consumer at the other end. There is an initiative by the Commission from which we expect to receive a report at the back end of the year. The European Commissioner, Mr. Phil Hogan, has said he might be able to bring forward proposals early in 2017. In...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: The local authorities are involved in respect of Japanese knotweed.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: In the diseases legislation, we identify the local authorities as agents in terms of the appropriate follow-up response. Along the roadsides, one sees all-too-prevalent signage erected by various local authorities identifying the issue of Japanese knotweed and asking people not to interfere. With conventional hedge trimming, if one interferes with Japanese knotweed, one only multiplies it....

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: I do not know. I am not an expert in the area. However, the weed appears to be in decline as a consequence of the spraying regime.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: Yes. We have inspection regimes for imports in that area to ensure we are not being exposed to any diseases through import. There are significant imports of saplings to nurseries. Seed testing, including the testing of seed potatoes, is another initiative in which the Department is involved.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (22 Jun 2016)

Michael Creed: The focus of programme C is to promote economically, socially and environmentally sustainable farming, fishing and forestry. The key strategies underpinning this programme include the implementation of the rural development programme, the protection of the agriculture and fishing environments through environmentally friendly systems, the implementation of environmental cross-compliance...