Results 121-140 of 766 for speaker:Pippa Hackett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I thank Deputy Leddin. I thank him as well for his vote of confidence, which is much appreciated. He is right that in the programme for Government there is a commitment concerning small-scale native planting. He may have heard earlier about the small-scale forestry scheme launched today to support farmers to plant 1 ha of native woodlands. In fact, if they have any waterways, rivers or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I think it is. Coillte plays a significant role in supplying timber to the sector. The supply of timber is approximately 50:50 between Coillte and private landowners. It will go up slightly on the private side. That balance will shift over the next few years. Coillte has an important role to play. It also has its processing facility, Medite Smartply, so it is involved in the whole...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: They already have that option.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I am saying they already have the option.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I believe that the new programme will be a success. It has been well thought through. Many people are supportive of it, including a lot of stakeholders and the Department. I have confidence in the programme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I have not received it yet. I understand I will receive it in the coming weeks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: It will be published, yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: The target is 2,450 ha and more applications are coming in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: Absolutely. Officials have been working with people. We have had online engagement. We have face-to-face engagement with foresters next week. Our State agency through Teagasc will have 20 town hall-type events throughout the country for people to attend. There is plenty of engagement. We are pushing it out through promotion as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I do not know the detail of that. Was it before the new state aid came in?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: We have better processes now. They are more efficient and effective. We get a lot more information now upfront when an application comes, which we perhaps had not sought in previous times and would then have to go back. That is why we set those times. When they are not screened in for AA, that makes the situation much quicker as no ecologists are involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I am sorry if the Deputy thought my previous answer was watery. Yes, I will meet it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I am very sure. I do not know if Mr. Delany has specifics. I do not know the actual structure. As I said already, we have very high levels of biosecurity. We only import logs with bark from a certain part of Scotland, which currently has pest-free status. We thoroughly physically check everything that comes in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: Regarding the pest-free status, there is only one area in the whole world that we are entitled to import barked logs from. If it is coming from anywhere else, it has to be de-barked or sawn into boards and so on. I do not know if there is anything else that Mr. Delany has to add from his pest days.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I can only speak from some examples and if there is a Pro Silva walk anywhere in the Deputy's jurisdiction, which are all about promoting the benefits of continuous cover, I encourage him to go on one and he will meet some very happy foresters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: As the Deputy will be aware, a scheme is currently in place but I have been aware of dissatisfaction with the current scheme, which is why I commissioned the independent report which was published just yesterday. I do not know if the Deputy has had a chance to read it yet. It is an independent report into how the Department dealt with the ash dieback issue. It has a number of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I cannot give that timeframe yet but I have encouraged farmers to apply for the current scheme because they will not be disadvantaged by any new scheme that we may come up with. It is important that they get those diseased and dying ash trees cleared as soon as possible. They need to apply to the current ash dieback scheme to get that ball rolling, so that is important.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I cannot say what compensation package will be available. It is quite clear under the state aid rules that we cannot compensate for loss. We have been able to support for clearance and replanting. We will examine the state aid rules further to see if there are any other mechanisms by which we can support farmers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: We know we cannot compensate for any loss of timber or future loss. What we have been able to do so far is support farmers to clear what is there and replant. We have been supporting farmers to do that through two different schemes over the last ten years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: Currently, we do not think we can do that under the state aid rules but we will explore whether there are any other mechanisms by which we can assist farmers.