Results 41-60 of 17,665 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (23 Mar 2005)

Brendan Smith: The Deputy should apply the term "Luddite thinking" to himself.

Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (23 Mar 2005)

Brendan Smith: The Deputy would be very welcome in rural communities.

Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (23 Mar 2005)

Brendan Smith: The Deputy is not giving the facts.

Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (23 Mar 2005)

Brendan Smith: Like Deputy Morgan, the Deputy wants us to follow the British.

Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (23 Mar 2005)

Brendan Smith: We are unfortunate to become a Thirty-two County jurisdiction.

Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (23 Mar 2005)

Brendan Smith: The Deputy should be ashamed of his comments.

Seanad: Citizenship Applications. (27 Apr 2005)

Brendan Smith: I thank Senator Feighan for his kind words of welcome. On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who cannot be here this evening, and for the benefit of the House in general, I am pleased to respond to the matter raised by Senator Feighan. The file reference quoted by the Senator relates to an application for naturalisation by the person in question. That application was...

Seanad: Schools Refurbishment. (27 Apr 2005)

Brendan Smith: I thank Senator Morrissey for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House both the extensive actions already taken by the Department of Education and Science and those planned for the future, to tackle the accommodation needs of St. Brigid's national school, Castleknock. Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects. (27 Apr 2005)

Brendan Smith: I apologise for the absence of the Minister for Education and Science who is busy on other Government business. I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline the Department's strategy for capital investment in education projects and to outline the position on the application received in the Department for additional accommodation at Scoil Eoin Baiste...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects. (27 Apr 2005)

Brendan Smith: That is real Donegal style.

Food Industry. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: The national task force on obesity has not produced a report either in final or draft form. The World Health Organisation has described obesity as a worldwide epidemic, and estimates that up to 250 million people, about 7% of the adult population, may have an obesity problem. In Ireland figures point to a two thirds increase in the prevalence of obesity among adults. Particularly worrying is...

Food Industry. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: Scientists have replaced the saturated fat, salt and sugar components in convenience foods as consumption of natural healthy food ingredients continues to increase, resulting in healthier products. Under the food institutional research programme, considerable work has been undertaken at Teagasc's National Food Centre and University College Cork in developing those types of foods as referred...

Food Industry. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: Yes, and that work is ongoing. The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, has been anxious to make the public aware at every available forum that we will drive this agenda. The labelling issue comes into this too. We are making considerable progress on this issue.

Land Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed). (4 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: This Land Bill is all-embracing. We have toured all County Clare by now.

Sugar Beet Sector. (19 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: I thank Deputy Wall for raising this issue. I am aware of the concerns that were expressed following the closure of Carlow sugar factory in March about transport arrangements for the delivery of sugar beet to Mallow. The transport issue is one to be resolved between Irish Sugar Limited and the beet growers and I have no function that regard. I understand the two parties have been working...

Food Labelling. (25 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: The food labelling group, which was established in July 2002, presented its report in December 2002. Notwithstanding that food labelling is a particularly complicated and broadly based area, substantial progress has been made to date in the implementation of the recommendations of the report. Nineteen of the 21 recommendations, many of which were beyond the remit of the Department and some of...

Food Labelling. (25 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: Twelve of the recommendations have been implemented in full. Four are specific matters for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. The Minister, Deputy Coughlan, has raised the question of the origin and labelling of food, particularly in regard to food service outlets, with her colleagues at European level in the Council of Ministers. The Minister has consistently done this to best protect the...

Food Labelling. (25 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: Another issue raised within the European Union is that of substantial transformation. This should be clearly defined and harmonised across all member states. The Minister, Deputy Coughlan, has raised this issue continually at meetings of the European Council of Ministers. It is an issue we are determined to address to ensure the widest possible information is available to the consumer in a...

Farm Retirement Scheme. (25 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: I received the committee's report on 7 April and my officials are examining it. This report arises from an investigation by the committee of a complaint by a group representing retired farmers. My Department provided the committee with a comprehensive formal written response to the complaint and also attended a meeting of the committee in July 2003 to answer questions from members. The report...

Farm Retirement Scheme. (25 May 2005)

Brendan Smith: On the Deputy's last point, we could not concur with all the report's recommendations. However, the Department is formalising a response to the joint committee. A number of issues raised in the report simply cannot be addressed. The Deputy quite rightly raised the possibility of the indexation of payments which has been a source of concern to a large number of farmers. That issue has been...