Results 1,961-1,980 of 23,548 for speaker:Michael Healy-Rae

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: On a serious note, it is not just me. Each Member of the House has been inundated with this. I am pleading with the Taoiseach. A Cheann Comhairle, you know it yourself. You have it in your constituency.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: Not science, the ground is wet.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: It will dry overnight.

An Garda Síochána: Motion [Private Members] (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: It was so disappointing to see the Minister for Justice turn her back on the rank and file gardaí up and down the length and breadth of this country and to give a blank cheque of support to Commissioner Drew Harris. He has failed in securing the support of even a minority of gardaí and he has let them down. However, the Minister and the Government gave him a blank cheque. If only...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: I thank the Minister, the Minister of State and their officials for being here. On behalf of County Kerry farmers, I thank the Minister for the extension of the slurry spreading period but it is not adequate. People on marginal ground, not just in Kerry but throughout the country, will need until 1 November. A bit of fine weather is coming but the type of ground we are representing needs...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: Is the Minister clarifying that the answer is "Yes"?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: That is fine. Once we are saying "Yes", that is all. Page 22 of the report on ash states that there are "weaknesses in culture, leadership, communications and capability" in the Department. Does the Minister of State believe that the new programme will be a success if this is the independent view of her Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: That is good. Grant Thornton carried out a process review of the Department's processes more than a year ago. When will that report be published? Has it been shelved? Will it ever see the light of day?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: Is the Minister of State giving a guarantee that it will be published and we will all get to see it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: What is the hectares target for planting licences to be issued from the 210 applications that have opted into the new programme? If there are zero targets, how can we deliver a programme? Is this just business as usual?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: Out of the 210 applications that have opted into the new programme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: The sector has been left in limbo as regards submitting new applications due to the lack of guidance on the new layers. Industry stakeholders advised that mixed messages in respect of guidance are coming from departmental officials. The head of the environmental section in the Department informs them that sufficient information is out there and the Department will not be providing any...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: Were either the Minister or Minister of State aware there were issues with the appropriate assessment, AA, process for sites approved pre-Christmas 2022 in the event of an appeal? Why did appeals continue to be heard by the forestry appeals committee, FAC, when it was known that these licences would not be upheld? Was that not very misleading?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: It was known they were going to fail.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: To be fair, why would you go ahead with an appeal if you knew it was doomed to failure? Was it not very misleading to do that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: Can Mr. Dunne not see why people would be upset at that? If it was known that these licences would not be upheld, why were the appeals allowed to continue to be heard by the FAC? For what purpose?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: How can the Ministers give assurances that all licences that are screened out will issue within six months and those screened in will issue within nine months, when the process is a lot more onerous than it was under the previous programme? If the same team is doing the same process, how do they expect a different result? We always said the ultimate act of insanity was to keep doing the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: I thank the Minister of State. I really appreciate that. I tabled a parliamentary question about the bark beetle in the last 14 days ago due to concerns that I and people in the sector have with regard to what is happening in Scotland and the potential harm and damage that could do to us here. How sure is the Minister of State that she and her officials in the Department, and everybody...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: Checking for a beetle could be like looking for a needle in a haystack, to be fair.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Michael Healy-Rae: The last word I would say to the Minister of State and the officials is that the confidence that is lacking in the countryside is frightening. The Minister of State mentioned happy farmers and happy foresters a number of times. I do not know who she is meeting or what sort of an act they are putting on, but people are not happy. They are not happy with the Department, the officials or the...