Results 1,821-1,840 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Basic Payment Scheme (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: The Deputy's point sounds perfectly rational but I will explain the roadmap. The closing date for applications is 15 May. There is a three-week period afterwards in which applicants have the right to correct their applications. Once that three-week period has elapsed, the Department does its preliminary checks and then communicates with farmers on any issues that arise. It should be borne...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: I share the wish of the House and all of its Members, clearly expressed today and previously, that the beef market task force would convene at the earliest possible date. I have outlined the endeavours of my Department and the independent chairperson to progress matters that were agreed, even in the absence of the task force meeting in plenary session. That has been facilitated by bilateral...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: I would like to deal with the matter of the Dáil record. I attended a meeting, in the presence of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, with representatives from Meat Industry Ireland, MII, where the issue regarding threats directed at management in C&D Foods was raised directly with us. The nature of those threats is as I outlined in the Dáil yesterday. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: As the Deputy will be aware, and to which he has alluded, the inaugural beef task force meeting scheduled for 14 October was prevented from proceeding. However, the independent chair and my Department have continued to engage proactively with task force members with a view to both progressing the implementation of the provisions of the agreement. My Department and its agencies continue to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: I have previously commented on the toxic nature of the relationship between the processors and the primary producers. I had hoped that the establishment of the beef market task force, arising from all the events we can recall during the summer of discontent, would mark a new departure. That is because, in the long term, it is not sustainable to have an industry survive and prosper without...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: I have always stated that the strength of the industry is in collaboration with the general agrifood industry. While that principle is strongly established in other enterprises, it is problematic in the beef sector and the task force is critical to building that new departure for the industry. That is what we are trying to do. Turning to the issue of producer organisations, I acknowledge...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: It is important to set out the things we can say with absolute certainty. There is no change in entitlement to payments for 2020. The Commission has published draft proposals in respect of 2021. My personal view is that the transitional arrangements are highly likely to be necessary for a second year in light of the challenges that are being faced around the share of the multi-annual...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: The Deputy is conveniently ignoring the fact that the funding available under Pillar 2 for the RDP is a finite resource. We offered the people who were in the AEOS the opportunity to make the transition to give them the greater certainly of the five-year GLAS contract. Some of them made this transition and others chose not to do so. I understand that some of them now claim that they were...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: As the Deputy will be aware, the inaugural meeting of the beef task force, which was scheduled for 14 October, was prevented from proceeding. Since then, the independent chair of the task force and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have been continuing to engage proactively with members of the task force with a view to making progress with the implementation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Beef Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: Not departmental officials.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Data (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: My Department continually monitors the levels of employment in the agriculture and wider agrifood sector. Employment figures are primarily sourced from the Central Statistics Office quarterly labour force survey. Additional data on specific sectors is also sourced from Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Irish Forestry and Forest Products Association. The agrifood sector is an essential part of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Data (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: I draw the attention of the Deputy to the point I made earlier to Deputy Cahill in the context of applications for the basic payment scheme. There have been 122,000 applications, not taking into account the substantial number of farmers who, for one reason or another, do not make any application or do not have any entitlement to payments. In respect of those employed in primary...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Data (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: The CAP reform process is ongoing. There is a consultation process. It is important that we develop the levers that will be available to us to deliver the maximum support to those who need it most. The Deputy referred to renewables. My Department recently introduced a new scheme to support renewable energy through grant aid for solar panels under the targeted agricultural modernisation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Common Agricultural Policy Negotiations (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: At the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 18 November 2019, the Commission presented two proposals for CAP transitional rules. Such transitional measures are normal practice between consecutive programming periods to provide legal and financial certainty where a gap arises due to any delays in finalising a new budget and CAP regulations. The recent Council accepted the need for such...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Basic Payment Scheme Payments (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: My Department has received more than 122,000 applications this year from farmers under the basic payment scheme, BPS, which is fully funded by the European Union and is worth in excess of €1.2 billion annually. There are no delays in the issuing of payments to applicants with clear applications under this scheme. The Deputy will be aware that advance payments under the BPS...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Basic Payment Scheme Payments (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: I accept the point and it is often made in engagement I have with farmers and farm organisations. I wish it were so but the regulations are quite clear. They state that if a case is selected for inspection the inspection must be concluded and processed before payment is made. Regrettably, this is the EU regulation under which we operate. This is why every effort has been made to get...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Organic Farming Scheme Data (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: The current budget of €56m allocated to fund all Organic Farming Schemes during the period of the current Rural Development Programme is the largest allocation ever to an Organic Farming support scheme. The area of land under organic production has expanded dramatically as a direct result of my Department's investment. Latest figures indicate that there are now some 72,000...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Welfare (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: Bord na gCon is a commercial state body, established under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958 chiefly to control greyhound racing and to improve and develop the greyhound industry. Bord na gCon is a body corporate and a separate legal entity to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Bord na gCon continues to advise owners to only export to destinations that provide the expected...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fish Landings (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: The Commission asked Ireland to conduct a formal administrative inquiry to evaluate its capacity to apply the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). This came as a result of “the severe and significant weaknesses detected in the Irish control system” during an audit carried out by the Commission in Killybegs, in 2018. Principally, the Commission identified shortcomings...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse Racing Industry (27 Nov 2019)

Michael Creed: Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is a commercial state body established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001, and is responsible for the overall administration, promotion and development of the horse racing industry. The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) is the regulatory body for all horseracing in Ireland. The Board is a company limited by guarantee set up by the Turf Club and...