Results 1-20 of 151 for speaker:Joanne Collins
- Seanad: Sport: Statements (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I wish to discuss sport in the sense that it is not just elite sport we need to talk about, it is all sport. I wish to discuss one sport in particular, which is swimming. I spoke about this a couple of weeks ago here in the Seanad. Swimming as a sport is not just competitive. A swimming service has young and old people as beginners. It is...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: I welcome the Minister of State and the officials. I will begin with ash dieback, which is something I have spoken about quite a bit in the Seanad. I have met many groups, one of which is the Limerick and Tipperary Woodland Owners. I am very happy that two of its members are in the Gallery to observe what is happening today. Ash dieback is a massive issue. What percentage of landowners...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: What is the percentage of landowners?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: That is one quarter.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: Does the Minister of State know-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: Why does the Minister of State think the other 75% have not looked for the grant?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: Perfect.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: Perfect. My next question is on the grant. Is the grant paid upfront or do people have to have the trees planted a certain number of years before they get the final payment?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: People have to pay upfront for the work to be done. They have lost all their trees and all the profit they would have got from them, and then they have to pay to get the forestry cleared and replanted. It is at that point they get their grant.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: Before they clear it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: When they have it cleared.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: So, again, they have to pay out to clear it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: But after everything is done.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: They do not get anything upfront.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: So they pay out after losing their forestry and the potential of their pension. One owner I met lost more than €80,000. He lost his entire forest to ash dieback because he had to wait three years to get his felling licence. I know the Minister of State is saying that the licence process has improved and that licences are being processed quicker, but the man in question had to wait...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: That is fine. I am just making the point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: Is the Minister of State responsible for the grant not being paid upfront?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: I suggest that these-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: I agree with the Minister of State on this. However, ash dieback was caused by bad importation. It was not caused by any of these landowners. They did not bring it in. It was a lack of importation controls at the ports. It was either our Government, which the Minister of State was not part of at the time, or another European government. Regardless, it was not the landowners. Why do...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)
Joanne Collins: From what I can see, the Minister of State will not get the other 75% of landowners to replant. They want out because they are not being looked after. They were let down by the Government. They were let down by a lack of import controls. Now, they are being left with forests that are dead and that they cannot do anything with. They have lost their pension pots.