Results 1,801-1,820 of 7,773 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Has the 15 to 20 years been brought up?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I refer to the Coillte deal. Let us be clear on this. Am I correct in saying that if there were premiums on that land, such as entitlements, an investment company can draw the entitlements? "Yes" or "No".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes, the investment companies, if they have a herd number.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: It is not technical.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: There are companies with herd numbers that draw the single-farm payment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Can they draw a single-farm payment, if there is an entitled to it? "Yes" or "No". That is all.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: They can. That is fair enough and that is all I wanted to know. Under this new scheme, am I correct in saying that the investment companies can draw the premiums annually and can draw the establishment grant? It is a yes-no answer.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Regarding the Coillte deal, was the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, not made aware of this in March 2021?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Coillte's plans and about it talking to Gresham House.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: The Minister of State was not made aware.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Okay. Regarding the deal being done, and either the Minister or the Minister of State can answer this query, a bid was made on a farm in County Tipperary in July that Coillte was well aware of. The Property Registration Authority, PRA, put it into the name of the investment fund on 23 December 2022. The witnesses said they were made aware on 16 December or 18 December 2022. Can it be...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Would the Minister find it ironic-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I am talking about a deal in County Tipperary involving 1,100 acres of land that has been put into what we will call the new investment company's name. It was registered by 23 December 2022. This was only a few days after the Minister said he became aware of it and 12 days after we had representatives from Coillte here. Would the Minister find it unusual that people worked so fast?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes, but the Minister knew a long time in advance what was going on here.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Turning to the Minister of State, we talk about different types of broadleaf trees and different types of planting. Has the Minister of State met representatives of the nurseries and has she been made aware that, if a great deal of planting comes in, there may be problems in perhaps having enough stock in place? Obviously, it is not possible to just click a button and trees grow. It takes...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Is it going to be a problem? It is a yes-no answer.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Are we looking at bringing in trees from other countries that may have diseases?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Okay. In the Minister's opinion, has the gate closed and is this deal done on the 12,000 ha? Is this deal going to be reversed? I would like an honest answer.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)
Michael Fitzmaurice: That is four days after Coillte's representatives were in here telling us they would come back to us. Representatives of a semi-State company came in here on 13 December 2022, the Chair will know the date exactly, and informed us that they were so worried about our climate targets they were going to plant 100,000 ha of clean land. Was the Minister surprised that the first deal to be done...