Results 1,921-1,940 of 23,906 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 78 together. I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this issue. I know it is particularly important to farmers in Galway and Mayo, as it is in Donegal. Either Galway or Mayo has the highest number of ACRES participants, at more than 5,000, which is over one ninth of the national total. The scheme has been quite popular for people to engage...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: So far, only farmers participating in the general stream have received any payment. Out of 28,000 in the general stream, some 20,000 have received a payment, with over €88 million paid out to them so far. Around 18,000 other farmers are in the co-operation stream. They will now all receive €5,000 by the end of this month. Those in the general stream-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Some 18,000 in the co-operation stream. In total, we will see 26,000 farmers receive the interim payment of either €4,000 in the case of the 8,000 general stream farmers who have not been paid, or €5,000 for the 18,000 co-operation stream farmers, none of whom have received a payment yet. I accept what the Deputy is saying. Farmers will be very keen to see the level of their...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: That would certainly be the intention.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: In response to Deputy McNamara, my understanding from recollection is that approvals are still required in most of those instances. It would certainly be the intention that once approvals are given, they can move through to payments. That is part of the scheme that is still being rolled out and is the next step in relation to the co-operation streams. In response to Deputy Ó...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Food Waste (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Deputy is plugged into the farming community in her constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny and she does considerable work with its members. She is aware of the massive effort from morning until late at night, 365 days per year, that goes into producing food. I was glad to meet the large number of farmers who attended a meeting she organised a few months ago. The onus is on us all to ensure...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Food Waste (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: We will keep up the work and continue to fund the many organisations that are doing great work in this area. A large part of addressing the issue involves talking about it and ensuring there is an awareness of it. For the average family household, food going from the fridge to the bin instead of from the fridge to the plate costs approximately €800 per year. It is a sin to see that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: This is a matter on which I have made a commitment. As a result of the economic recession prior to the CAP before last, a group of young farmers did not get to avail of a number of supports that had been available previously. Those farmers are still actively farming and we want to see them continuing in that. We also want the fact that they missed out on those earlier opportunities to be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Department has carried out a few analyses of this. The category of farmer we are discussing comprises those who commenced prior to 2008, were under 40 years of age in 2015 and held low-value entitlements under the BPS. A 2019 assessment showed that 3,900 farmers fulfilled the criteria, with the cost of increasing the value of entitlements estimated to be €12 million. Obviously,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Food Waste (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor for raising this issue. As she knows, it is well documented that food waste is an important and real challenge. It is an issue I take very seriously, both personally and in the strategic positions and actions taken by my Department. At the strategic level, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine works very closely with its counterpart, the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Turbary Rights (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank Deputy Kerrane. The Deputy will be aware that the ACRES scheme is our flagship environmental scheme under the new CAP. Over the course of the past year we have had 1.1 million ha of land scored, representing 25% of our overall total productive land in the Republic, including more than 400,000 ha of commonage. This is a phenomenal achievement and one that advisers and farmers as...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Turbary Rights (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: This issue was first brought to my attention by the INHFA and their Donegal chairman, Mr. John McConway, and the concern that turbary as scored as part of the wider commonage would have a disproportionate impact. Having taken on board that concern, there was engagement with the Department. The direction agreed after that was that the turbary would be extracted from the wider commonage and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Turbary Rights (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: At the outset the initial intention was that everything would be scored within the one commonage together and the turbary would be within that commonage as well. The concern was then expressed that this could lead to a disproportionate impact on the overall score and the payment to the farmer. I then intervened and the decision was made to extract and separate out turbary from the wider...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Each of those who have given an expression of interest having not originally been identified is having their submission looked at. The AMS is being used to verify those appeals. In any scheme like this, there have to be boundaries and conditions attached to make it possible to administer. This particular scheme has been confined to farmers who have land within the Shannon Callows SAC area....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: This scheme was particular to the Shannon Callows SAC. There are obviously instances of flooding in areas across the country where there is no flood scheme. This is the first time we have ever done this. It has never happened before. The challenge in any scheme like this is determining where to draw the boundaries and the lines. The issue raised by the Deputy and others related to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: We are using it all up. We will not leave any of it behind.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I do not know offhand. I can ask my team to revert to the Deputy on that matter. It will all be used. In the coming weeks, I will announce about €258 million in different schemes that will come in over the next few years to support the sector, particularly inshore fishers. The price on 12 February for marine gas oil was 64 cent per litre. Just before the invasion of Ukraine two...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Deputy is welcome to put forward a policy suggestion in this regard as to what such a scheme would look like. It would entail paying for and subsidising the cost of buying fuel because the State does not apply any Revenue charges. Her party does not have any policy in this area at the moment. Should she wish to develop a policy, I will look at it and see what she proposes. The State...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Government fully recognises that there was an exceptional flooding incident and event in the Shannon Callows late last summer which prevented some farmers from completing normal traditional harvesting of silage and or hay. This left affected farmers in a serious situation requiring them to purchase fodder to maintain animal health and welfare during the winter months. It was the first...