Results 1,901-1,920 of 23,948 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: That has always been allowed. Section 8(4) indicates “An appellant may represent himself or herself or be represented by another person at the oral hearing of his or her appeal.” The point after that states, “Where an appellant is represented by another person at the oral hearing of his or her appeal, the appeals officer hearing the appeal may examine the appellant, if...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: In some cases now they bring more than that two.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: If the situation were particularly tricky, the appellant might need more. We could leave it, though it could be said that-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: It is best to leave it a bit open-ended but make it clear that people can have additional representatives with them. The committee may want to flag that. I will reflect on it further but I would be happy to get the committee's sense of it as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes, that would be good. In response to Deputy Mythen, force majeure is already built into the appeals system, so you can-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I take the point the Chair is making, but it is a different point from saying a new force majeure would be considered at the review panel stage, at the very final point. When people get to that very final point, that review panel stage, they are appealing on the basis of a point of fact or a point of law. That point of fact could be, for example, that they do not believe that force majeure...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I take the Deputy's point but I think that is covered, currently. In the case of a force majeure, where circumstances or facts have changed after the appeal is made, a person can seek an appeal to another appeals officer on the basis of a change of circumstance or facts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: It is in the current system.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: No, because that is where the option is. What the Deputy described is provided for. For example, if an appeals officer makes a decision the appellant does not agree with, because his or her circumstances have changed further or because new evidence has come to light, a further appeal can be made to another appeals officer on the appeals board, or to the same appeals officer, with that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: A judicial review at the High Court is an ultimate option. It is a safeguard for all legal processes, basically. The High Court is the only place where a judicial review can be taken If an appellant chooses this option, it would be a judicial review of the process, rather than a further appeal on a fact as such. It would review whether the process was fair or not. We cannot prevent...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes, it would. Those officials make decisions based on the force majeure criteria.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I take the Cathaoirleach's point. As I have said, the key thing we want to ensure is that we have practical farming experience among the membership. On the committee's considerations, it was asked whether this means that farm organisations should get to make nominations. Does allowing farm organisations to nominate members make it more independent? The Cathaoirleach's view is that it may....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I agree with the Cathaoirleach.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I am open to that so I will talk to both Whips about how we can do it most efficiently,

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Senator for his support for the Bill. The amendment regarding the 70-year-old age limit is a sort of left-of-field idea I came across. I felt the age limit was not just, so I said the next time I had an opportunity, I would seek to have it amended and I have incorporated that into this. Overall, as I said, the 2018 report gave a strong vote of confidence to the independence...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I look forward to the committee's consideration of that numbers piece. I have something of an open mind on that. The important thing is that it is practical, that it works and that it can be run in a way that works smoothly. The Cathaoirleach is right; the force majeure issue is not a matter for this legislation. It is a question of the definition of force majeure. What appeals officers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: A provision to allow the fair transition of the current workload with the aim of avoiding having two different procedures for review in cases of error fact in law running simultaneously in commencement of these amendments. It will be done by regulation. Sorry, it is in the Bill There is a provision there in the Bill as to how that transition might happen. Any that are in hand will move to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I can confirm that the person named was approved into Tranche 1 of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) Co-operation Project Stream, with a contract commencement date of 1 January 2023. As the deputy is aware, I made a decision to issue an interim, nationally funded payment, to farmers affected by ACRES payment delays across ACRES General and Co-operation, at a rate of...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: EU Funding (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department acts as a Paying Agency for a number of EU funds; the vast majority of these funds are programmed in multi annual cycles such as the CAP Strategic Plan and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) Programme. The CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 has a budget of €9.8 billion, with €5.97 billion in Pillar 1 for Direct Payments coming from the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (29 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I have long supported the cohort of farmers known as the forgotten farmers and have committed to supporting them. My Department developed a preliminary outline of a proposal to provide support to the forgotten farmer group. Work continues on addressing a number of issues, such as the funding required, consistency with public expenditure and state aid considerations before the details...