Results 17,561-17,580 of 18,372 for speaker:Brendan Smith
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The information requested by the Deputy in respect of payments made by my Department is set out in the following table. Year Average no. of days for payment to issue 2004 18 days 2005 23 days 2006 18 days 2007 22 days 2008 (to date) 18 days The table indicates the number of days which elapsed between receipt of invoices in the Department and the issue of payment. Payments made by...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The 2007 National Reserve was advertised on 16 May 2007 with a closing date of 8 June 2007. On initial examination of the Department's records it appeared that up to 8,000 farmers could qualify under the special sheep measure of the National Reserve but up to 11 June only 1,000 farmers had applied under this category. The deadline for applications was then extended to 22 June 2007. In...
- Written Answers — Sheep Sector: Sheep Sector (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: On 16 May 2007, a comprehensive package of aid measures was announced for the sheep sector in Ireland, including a specific range of grants to encourage on-farm investment in that sector. These grants were made available to sheep farmers under the Farm Improvement Scheme which was introduced on 12 July 2007. The Scheme was suspended for new applications on 31 October 2007 as applications...
- Written Answers — Rural Environment Protection Scheme: Rural Environment Protection Scheme (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The mixed grazing supplementary measure is available to farmers joining REPS 4. Out of 3,787 applications for REPS 4 received up to today, 241 applicants have indicated that they wish to participate in the mixed grazing measure. Eleven of these applications have been approved and paid to date. In total my Department has issued some â¬9,000 to the farmers. I am currently considering...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The person named submitted a REPS 4 plan in December 2007. If it is a valid application, he will start his REPS 4 contract from 1 January 2008 and will receive 75% of his 2008 full year's REPS payment when all administrative checks for REPS and the 2008 Single Payment Scheme are completed. In practice, this will be in early autumn. The remaining 25% payment will go out when the last of the...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: I have no plans at present to introduce a Scheme to aid the purchase of harvesting machinery for bioenergy crops. In 2007, I introduced a new Bioenergy Scheme offering establishment grants of up to â¬1,450 per hectare to farmers to plant willow and miscanthus. Some 800 hectares were grant aided in 2007. One of the main advantages of these crops is that harvesting operations can be carried...
- Written Answers — Rural Environment Protection Scheme: Rural Environment Protection Scheme (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 355 and 356 together. REPS is a agri-environmental measure, and for that reason payments to farmers must be costed and justified on the basis of quantifiable environmental benefits that go beyond keeping land in good agricultural and environmental condition and observing the statutory management requirements of the Single Payment Scheme. No element of the...
- Written Answers — Cereal Sector: Cereal Sector (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The concept "conservation agriculture"in the context of tillage undoubtedly embraces at least the principles of minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover with plants or residues and the use of crop rotations and cover crops. Minimal soil disturbance by the use of alternatives to ploughing is increasingly being practised in Ireland. The current Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS...
- Written Answers — Afforestation Programme: Afforestation Programme (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: As replanting of the sites in question would not constitute first afforestation they would not be eligible for grant aid.
- Written Answers — Animal Importation Licences: Animal Importation Licences (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: Since the beginning of 2008, one import licence has been issued for the importation of three African Elephants from Germany via France to a circus operating in Ireland.
- Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: A good deal of work has already been undertaken and significant progress has been made on drafting the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill and I intend, very shortly, to initiate a process of public consultation by publishing a consultation paper and inviting submissions from interested parties and other stakeholders. The Bill will be a comprehensive piece of legislation which will, inter...
- Written Answers — Budget Submissions: Budget Submissions (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: Frequent informal contacts take place and meetings are held on an ongoing basis between officials in my Department and in the Department of Finance in the preparation of the annual Estimates provisions for the Department. It is also the practice for Ministers to meet with the Minister for Finance in the final stages of the Estimates negotiations. On these occasions, my predecessors were...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The person named is an applicant under the Farm Waste Management Scheme. His application for payment is currently being examined and a decision will be made in regard to the application as soon as possible.
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The person named has been approved for a REPS 3 payment which will issue within the next ten days.
- Written Answers — Agricultural Holdings: Agricultural Holdings (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: The most recent statistics relating to farm numbers are available through the CSO Farm Structures Survey results for 2003 and 2005. The report shows that over that period 2003 to 2005 farm numbers declined at a rate of approximately 1% per annum to 132,500 farms. The reduction in farm numbers is part of an on-going trend, which is common throughout Europe. The rate of decline is lower in...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: An application under the Single Payment Scheme /Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on the 18th April 2007. As part of the control procedures under EU legislation governing these Schemes, the application was randomly selected for and was the subject of a ground eligibility and animal identification and registration inspection During the course of the ground...
- Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: To date, 58 payments totalling â¬169,662.79 have been paid out to farmers in County Cork under the Farm Improvement Scheme. All of these payments have been made from the Clonakilty office.
- Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: A good deal of work has already been undertaken and significant progress has been made on drafting the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill and I intend, very shortly, to initiate a process of public consultation by publishing a consultation paper and inviting submissions from interested parties and other stakeholders. The Bill will be a comprehensive piece of legislation which will, inter...
- Written Answers — Turbary Rights: Turbary Rights (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: A turbary right over a plot of bog, separate to the folio in the question was sold in 1967 by the former Irish Land Commission by means of a Q3 agreement, to the person named (now deceased) in the Question. The original Q3 document cannot be found in the Records Branch of my Department despite an intensive search being undertaken. There is no indication from other source documents that...
- Written Answers — Turbary Rights: Turbary Rights (8 May 2008)
Brendan Smith: A turbary right over a plot of bog was sold in 1966 by the former Irish Land Commission, by means of a Q3 agreement, to the person named in the Question. The turbary right is still recorded in the person's name in the Records Branch of my Department.