Results 1,561-1,580 of 8,978 for speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I repeat that the European Commission has stated Ireland is the most compliant member of the EU in terms of fishery regulations.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I refer to the Commission's recent statistics. Are the witnesses not aware of this fact?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: So the SFPA is not aware that Ireland is the most compliant member state in the EU in terms of fishery regulation. Is that what Mr. Hayes is saying on the record?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I did not ask about that. Can the SFPA confirm whether Ireland is the most compliant in the EU? Surely the SFPA must know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: So the answer then is that Mr. Hayes does not know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: That comment is on the record now. My next questions concern CCTV. I have witnessed the following with my own eyes in terms of a factory in Killybegs. I understand that there are ten CCTV cameras in one factory that are accessible to the SFPA officials at all times. It means that they can sit in their office in Killybegs and in real time monitor the weighing and the operations that take...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Am I correct? It is a "Yes" or "No" answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: So the authority has access through CCTV to at least one factory in Killybegs for these purposes. Mr. Hayes said that in his opening statement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Can the SFPA make unannounced inspections in any relevant factory in Killybegs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Is Mr. Hayes aware of anywhere else in the European Union where a fish processor has CCTV cameras in place that are monitored by the regulator and the recording is stored for around 30 days? Is there any other EU member state that has such a provision in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Please answer my question first.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We are short on time so I ask Mr. Hayes to answer my question, please.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I did not ask that question. I asked Mr. Hayes if he was aware of a fish processing factory in any other EU member state that has that provision applied to it by the regulator. Is that the case anywhere else in the Europe? If Mr. Hayes does not know then he can just say that he does not know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will recap. First, I understand that the European Commission stated that Ireland was the most compliant State in all of the EU in terms of regulation. Second, Ireland has a level of oversight that is unprecedented anywhere else in the EU. Mr. Hayes does not know if that is true but I believe it to be the case. I have outlined the level of oversight to which the industry is subjected yet...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Has the SFPA taken control of the system? Has the SFPA done the natural thing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Prior to the judgment did the SFPA convey any concerns in that the problem was that this was not in the control of an independent body? Was that the SFPA's concern prior to the High Court decision?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will ask my question again. Did the SFPA articulate, prior this matter, unfortunately, going to the High Court, that the difficulty was that the matter was in the control of the industry? These were the concerns of the SFPA before the case went to the High Court. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: In the opening statement, the witnesses refer to their frustrations about the length of time this took to address. Would they agree it is peculiar the European Commission had not articulated any issue with an industry-owned system, but suddenly it had an issue? Is it peculiar to it the witnesses that the Commission had an issue after the High Court decision? The correspondence from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will summarise it. My understanding is the witnesses' objection is that this weighing system is owned by the industry. It went to court and the judge made a clear decision that the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, is acting ultra viresin how it is dealing with this. Suddenly, the European Commission started to share the authority's concerns. It has been said publicly in many...