Results 81-100 of 5,615 for speaker:Andrew Doyle

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: I thank the Chairman and the members of the committee for inviting me to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the forestry sector in the context of the climate action plan. I welcome the climate action plan and acknowledge the work that has gone into its preparation. In particular, I acknowledge the work done by the all-party committee chaired by Deputy Hildegarde Naughton and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: Are there only three questions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: I will address Senator Paul Daly's question first. When an application comes in for a tree-felling licence part and parcel of that licence is a replanting obligation, so in the vast majority of cases a plantation is replanted after it is clear-felled. Some questions were raised about monoculture in County Leitrim and other areas. Those plantations are coming to a mature stage at this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: I accept that just as I accept that cigarette companies advertising on Formula 1 cars for years was wrong. We did not know what the impact would be. I see plantations that extend as far as the road at the Wicklow Gap being clear-felled. When they are replanted they will be set back from the road so that views will not be obstructed. That was practice at the time and it was not confined to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: It is State owned. There is no trade for it. It is factored in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: I am not a lawyer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: In the UK and New Zealand, people trade carbon credits but they are not paid in the same way as our premium is paid. I am not sure that this is a relevant point at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: The person will have received a grant of 100% to establish forestry and 15 years' premium, with tax-free income on that and a tax-free sale of the product thereafter. As I said, I firmly believe that forestry will have a role to play under the new proposals in the Common Agricultural Policy and its environmental asks. People will be rewarded, whether through payments for carbon or the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: The farmer is being paid to provide the land. In the case of mineral rights, the legislation provides that these rights belong to the State when one goes into the ground. I would have to get clarification on that but I would like to know the Deputy's specific question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: Who owns the carbon?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: The credit is factored into our mitigation targets. We are looking at measures to try to encourage people. How are they to be rewarded for taking measures, whether eco-systems or otherwise? We do that through the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, for instance, under which people are rewarded for providing biodiversity. Who owns the biodiversity? Biodiversity is also a way...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: With regard to Deputy Penrose's question, I have dealt with the issue of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP negotiations. Scotland was way behind for years and they turned it around and it is worth studying to see how they did it. The dynamic of land ownership in Scotland, however, tends towards larger holdings. If smaller numbers of people need to be convinced to plant then one can...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: That is why we brought them in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: We brought in people from the representatives, but there are 1,600 ha not 16,000 ha that were-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: The Deputy said 16,000 ha. Some 16,000 ha would have been great value at €4.4 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: This was the problem. The feedback was that it was not going to the landowners. This is one of the reasons we were asked. It was suggested to us that we would look at the scheme to see how we could make it more targeted to the people who were affected. The problem is that the value of the timber that had to be removed was not what it should be because it depended on the age of the timber...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: The 1,600 ha has all been compensated. It is the remainder that is outstanding. There are some 15,000 ha remaining. When we see a very small area affected or a small number of trees affected we may not actually go in anymore because of the change of outlook from it being an eradication to a containment programme. It was designed around being an eradication programme but it is accepted...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: Yes. We only import logs from a particular area in Scotland. I am aware that they land at Wicklow Port, which is wall to wall with it at the moment. They have the same bio-security clearance that we have here and I believe it the only area from where logs arrive to Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: People are continuing to be paid their premium for the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector and Climate Action Plan: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Andrew Doyle: I will do my best. I ask members to bear with me. I have forgotten any questions, they should remind me of them so I can try to address them. I will begin by responding to Deputy Corcoran Kennedy. It is a helpful coincidence that the CAP programme and the new afforestation programme will run in tandem. I have always said that the two programmes need to have regard to each other. The...