Results 141-160 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: Hopefully not too long. My intent is to bring forward the implementation plan outlining how we are going to address all the recommendations. I would like to think that would be in the next couple of weeks.

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

Pippa Hackett: I agree and accept that there are challenges with land availability. There are all sorts of pressures from different sectors. At the end of the day, the vast majority of land in Ireland is owned by farmers and it is about their choice about what they want to do with their land, whether they want to rent it to someone, plant it, keep cattle or sheep, have tillage or whatever. There is a...

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

Pippa Hackett: Unfortunately, no. That rule is now gone so we do not allow planting on unenclosed land. It is just too damaging from an environmental perspective due to carbon loss and a number of other issues, so that, unfortunately, it is not available. It still needs quite a bit of land that is suitable for forestry.

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

Pippa Hackett: Yes, I think they can.

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

Pippa Hackett: It depends on the licence, but a felling licence can last for up to ten years, so they could feasibly apply ten years in advance and seek an extension. There is that option. I do not think there has ever been a case where we have not issued a felling licence. They have all been issued at some stage. I appreciate that there were delays but the vast majority of those delays have been addressed.

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

Pippa Hackett: There are restriction in terms of the depth of peat. Anything deeper than 30 cm can no longer be planted but we can plant land under 30 cm depth of peat. There are other restrictions around special protection areas, SPAs, curlew nests, and the freshwater pearl mussel.

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

Pippa Hackett: Yes, land that is already planted can be replanted. The restrictions relate to new afforestation.

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

Pippa Hackett: They can be planted in the correct land. As we said, if it is over 30 cm of peat, they would not be allowed but there is a-----

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

Pippa Hackett: I am not familiar with where Lyme disease comes from or where the insect that spreads it resides.

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

Pippa Hackett: I agree. It is a huge threat that is of concern. At the moment we are satisfied with the biosecurity arrangements and the pest-free zone that exists. It is something that we must keep under watch. I am not too sure how such a ban could be introduced.

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

Pippa Hackett: I agree. We closely engage with the Scottish authorities. We have also engaged with the Commission.

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

Pippa Hackett: I know. It is a third country and as a European Union member state we have a relationship with third countries.

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

Pippa Hackett: I think I have them all now. Regarding ash dieback, there are state aid constraints. There seems to be a bit of a challenge because we have different state aid rules for different sectors. Livestock state aid rules for supports and compensation are different from the ones for crops and forestry. We will absolutely fully explore what is possible within those forestry state aid rules and we...

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

Pippa Hackett: I know it is not.

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

Pippa Hackett: Fair enough.

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

Pippa Hackett: The background to that is that the science has shown that birds are nesting at the time. It has an impact on them.

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

Pippa Hackett: I suppose a balance has been struck in that they can operate for five months, not six, as was the case previously. However, I accept the challenges that exist. On the point on the farmers' charter, we have a farmers' charter commitment on licensing. Is it afforestation licences or everything?

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

Pippa Hackett: Essentially, if a licence is deemed to be such that it does not need to be screened in for an appropriate assessment, we are committed to issuing that within as close to six months as possible. If an appropriate assessment is needed, the period will be closer to nine months. It could be much quicker than six months. Sometimes we can issue licences in two months.

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

Pippa Hackett: We based it on our processes and how quickly we have been dealing with licences over the past several months.

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

Pippa Hackett: Do you want me to respond to some of those questions?