Results 1,721-1,740 of 7,773 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the representatives for coming in. The Forestry Licensing Dashboard features a little section on licences issued versus planting. A yellow box indicates the planting for 2023. It does not give us the figures but I am fairly all right at maths and, going by what I am looking at, it was less than 50 ha in January. I would need a pair of glasses to see what the planting was for the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Let them answer them, so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Does 75% have to be certified now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Is the Irish Timber Council concerned about the like of what I am looking at, which is planting 51 ha, 60 ha or 70 ha, to be generous?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am talking about the 12,000.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I agree.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Sorry to interrupt but could I have clarification on something? Is the spruce timber accredited on the external walls of a house here?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: It is good to know because you would hear it is imported timber.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for coming in. An issue was raised by the most recent group that appeared before the committee. They said they were a year waiting for the Minister and they did not get a meeting. Have the witnesses had meetings with the Minister?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The IFA has been seeking a meeting for the past year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: From what the representatives of sawmills who appeared previously before the committee were saying, they have lost faith in the Department, to put it simply. I presume the same is true for the farmer organisations,. What is the view of the witnesses in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Rushe does a bit of dairy farming. There is pressure on land at the moment around the country. How can this be resolved so that one part of the country is not taking the hit for everything, no matter which type of farming we are talking about? The IFA has looked at the grants that are being proposed at the moment for forestry. Given what we are hearing about the price of land for rent...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We are looking at rooting up some of the trees that Coillte and others have planted on what we would call peaty ground. There is talk about rooting them up and rewetting that land. Where does all of this magical land come out of to suffice the dreams of all the different pressures that is on it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We have seen the Gresham House set-up and, no more than the IFA, we do not agree with it. We have seen the different interests, including not-for-profit organisations, trying to buy land. I would be out talking to farmers a fair bit. If farmers with less than 50 acres were asked to plant 1 acre and to look after it well, those with 50 to 100 acres were asked to plant 2 acres and so on, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: They were paid to destroy them in the 1980s. The EU wanted everything ripped out of the place.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I met Mr. Fleming at a few meetings around the country, in fairness to him. In Sligo he would have seen the lack of confidence, as Mr. Rushe said, that is there now. That is going to take an awful lot of rebuilding.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion (22 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: The witnesses were coming in here in the afternoon.

Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: If it is being abused in any way by the veterinary sector, will the Department be able to look at that in six months or a year?

Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I welcome the crew from Mountbellew and Gerry Connellan from Elphin. We have discussed this Bill at committee and had the different farming organisations in. The Minister is aware of the different views in the line of fertiliser. Last year many people could not afford to spread fertiliser but I hope some of the monopolies in the context of inflated prices might be sorted out in the second...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Feb 2023)

Michael Fitzmaurice: My fear is that, if we set a period of five years and the regulator wanted to nail something from earlier than that, we could be in danger of not tackling a full case or of letting something go. Would the Minister be open to applying a timeline if the regulator wrote to him about cases being X amount of years?