Results 21-40 of 22,388 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fodder Crisis (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: In March 2022 I established the National Fodder and Food Security Committee. The remit of the Committee is to prepare an industry response, contingency plans and advice to assist farmers in managing their farm enterprises through difficult periods. In recognition of the ongoing and challenging weather conditions, I asked the Chairman to reconvene the Committee to establish the most up to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Mental Health Services (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: This Government has prioritised farm safety, health and well-being. Dedicated funding of €2.5m was allocated in Budget 2024 for a range of initiatives including initiatives to support increased awareness of the importance of mental health among farmers. My Department, along with the HSE and the Department of Health, is co-funding a farmers physical and mental health awareness...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Work is continuing on the calculation and processing of ACRES year one payments, and these payments are expected to issue by the end of June. ACRES General advance payments commenced on December 15th 2023, and approximately 19,719 farmers were paid a total of €88.356 million by early February 2024. Due in particular to the additional complexity associated with payments to...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Staff (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 541 to 543, inclusive, together. The table below shows the current number of permanent full-time equivalent (FTE) staff working in all three forestry divisions in my Department: Forestry Division, Forest Sector Development (FSD) Division and Forestry Inspectorate Division (including ecology/archaeology). Please note also that listed staff are involved in...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Harbours and Piers (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Both Helvick Pier and Dungarvan Harbour are the responsibility of Waterford City and County Council. The responsibility for the development and maintenance of local authority owned piers, harbours and slipways rests with each local authority in the first instance. The primary governance role for local authorities rests with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and any...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: As the Deputy will be aware in October last year I announced important flexibility to the spreading date under the National Liming Programme. This extension was permitted due to the challenging weather conditions in 2023. However, with the high levels of rainfall recorded since last July and little improvement in ground conditions and soil trafficability since the beginning of the year I...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department has made the Environmental Considerations map layers relevant to afforestation applications available to registered foresters via DAFM’s iNET mapping system. These maps help registered foresters to identify opportunities for further forest planting in Ireland, along with indicating areas where new forest planting may be inappropriate, for a variety of reasons. The...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I wish to advise the Deputy that the number outstanding agriculture payments for BISS, ANC and ACRES is set out in the table below. Scheme Number of outstanding payments BISS 661 ANC 930 ACRES 387 There are currently 120,463 potentially eligible BISS applicants, of which 119, 802 have...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Greyhound Industry (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Rásaíocht Con éireann (RCé) 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. RCé is a body corporate and a separate legal entity to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The question raised by the Deputy is an operational matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The trade and movement of plants and plant products into and within the EU is governed by the EU Plant Health Regulation 2031 of 2016 and the Official Controls Regulations 625 of 2017. These Regulations also harmonise the rules in areas such as, rules on surveillance for pests of plant health and rules on actions to be taken in the event of the confirmation of the presence of specific plant...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Sheep Improvement Scheme is funded under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. It provides support to sheep farmers for carrying out actions that improve animal health and welfare in the sheep sector and builds on the progress made by the Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS), which has now come to an end. My Department issued the first advance payments at a rate of 85% under the Sheep...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Welfare (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Neglect of or causing unnecessary suffering to animals is not acceptable in our society. My Department is committed to a policy of vigorously applying animal welfare standards, in a fair and even-handed manner and continues to enforce the law in this important area, as does An Garda Síochána, the Customs service, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Harbours and Piers (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: In February this year I had the privilege of visiting Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre which is one of the six state owned Fishery Harbour Centres to officially open the Dinish Wharf Extension and Breakwater. This major capital project was funded by my Department through the Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme with part-funding from the European Maritime and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Staff (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department is committed to ensuring that a skilled and motivated workforce is in place to meet its business needs and utilises workforce planning to identify and address these requirements for all our locations. I am conscious of the need for a prompt and efficient delivery of services and, to that end, all critical staffing vacancies are considered in line with workforce planning...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Sheep Improvement Scheme is funded under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. It provides support to sheep farmers for carrying out actions that improve animal health and welfare in the sheep sector, and builds on the progress made by the previous Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS). My Department issued the first advance payments at a rate of 85% under the Sheep Improvement Scheme in November...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (16 Apr 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...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Marine Protected Areas (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Our Ocean series of conferences is a forum for dialogue on all aspects of marine governance, encompassing not just fisheries but also areas such as climate change, maritime security, Marine Protected Areas, marine pollution and the sustainable Blue Economy. The Department of Foreign Affairs is co-ordinating Ireland's engagement with this Conference.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I am extremely conscious of the pressure on farmers currently as a result of continuing and exceptional adverse weather conditions. As an initial response I re-convened the National Fodder and Food Security Committee to establish the most up to date facts regarding the fodder and feed situation on farms and to provide advice to assist farmers through this challenging period. I have also asked...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 558 and 559 together. My Department has a policy goal of incentivising small-scale tree planting and changes introduced as part of the Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022, facilitate small scale planting of native tree areas without the need to first obtain an afforestation licence. This exemption allows forests to be...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (16 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: The Sheep Improvement Scheme complements some of the elements provided for in the Sheep Welfare Scheme, by providing increased support, while also building on other actions beneficial to sheep health and welfare, including the targeted application of genomic technologies in the sheep sector. The Terms and Conditions of the Sheep Improvement scheme require participants to submit a Sheep...