Results 281-300 of 753 for speaker:Pippa Hackett
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: I thank the Chair and the committee members for the invitation. I am pleased to be here to speak to the committee on this important but difficult matter of horticultural peat. I am joined by my all-woman team of officials that the Chair introduced. I do not know how often this happens here. I thank them for being here. As Minister with responsibility for horticulture, I want, at the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: If it is being said, it is being said for a reason. I understand only five out of 90 people contacted or groups contacted responded to Mr. Boland's queries at the start. In a way, we are always very much in the dark in this situation. We do not have full access to all the information. We do not always have full access to where stock is being held, and for maybe the right reasons because...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: Yes, mushrooms is about 10 ha to 15 ha because it goes down-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: Ultimately, it comes down to that planning issue. What we need is for extractors to engage with the process. There is a dual consent process there. It works effectively across other sectors. There is no reason it can not work here. Yes, it is onerous and yes, it is difficult
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: I accept the frustration here but individuals are entitled to make a submission. That is the process in which we operate and that is the democratic process under which we work. It was accepted that potentially the fastest route to compliance listed those small-scale bogs. That was potentially the easiest way to become compliant. Unfortunately, due to widespread lack of engagement with the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: Absolutely.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: I accept the importance of this. My Department took the approach to engage experts to look at this. We led on that following the Prasad report. The working group paper was published in January. It took time because we had to put people in place. The reports by the two experts have been published, albeit today. We only received them in order to publish them in the past week or so. My...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: The Deputy is taking that somewhat out of context. It was part of the debate in the Dáil a few weeks ago.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: It was a reference to a comment that had been made to me. I will look at it to confirm what it was related to.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: I thank the Senator. I accept the lateness of the report. I was only notified last Thursday of my appearance before the committee today. To clarify, while we have had the reports for a while, we had to engage across Government to reach agreement to publish the reports; that was only agreed last week, which is why everything is a bit late. The notification was not very long for me. I...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: The producer organisation one is different.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: I thank the Senator and appreciate his comments and his acknowledgement of the difficulty within this in the sector. We commissioned the KPMG report and it highlighted concerns but also the opportunity, and we have to look for the opportunity here. We are embarking on writing a strategy for the horticulture sector and when I met the horticulture industry forum on 26 October, it was a very...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: I thank Deputy Ring. Nobody is closing anything down. The Government is not closing anything down in the horticulture sector-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: We need to be clear. There is no ban on peat extraction and nothing is being stopped. Nothing has changed in relation to that. People must be compliant as they always must be. The extractors have to become compliant. That has always been the case. Nothing has changed in relation to the regulations or laws. That is still the case. It is still possible to extract peat but it must be...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: We have not changed it. The fact is that court cases found that people were not compliant-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: It is not the Green Party-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: This is not about the Green Party; this is about law. It is about EU law-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: Change EU law?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: The law is as it is and we should encourage everyone to comply with the law. Nobody should encourage anyone to not comply with the law. The law is there and people can become compliant if they engage. That is what we are always asking, that is, that they engage with the process. We want to help them engage with the process. The Government wants to help people to engage with the process....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Impact of Peat Shortages on the Horticulture Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2022)
Pippa Hackett: The future is alternatives and the sector appreciates that. The Deputy can shake his head all he likes but the sector appreciates that.