Results 341-360 of 435 for 5 million speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Single Payment Scheme Application Numbers (24 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...of the difficult financial situation faced by many farmers, I successfully sought the approval of the Commissioner to have advance payments made from 16 October. This will now allow us to make 50% advance payments to those applicants whose applications are confirmed fully clear, with effect from 16 October. Balancing payments will commence with effect from 1 December. The benefit in...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Conditions (24 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...from the scheme without any requirement for reimbursement of aid already received. There are currently 49,000 farmers active in both REPS and AEOS and projected payments of more than €200 million will be made under these schemes this year. This represents a significant financial support to these farmers and one which is very important given the difficulties they face. The...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Applications (24 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: The Agri-Environment Options Scheme has had a very positive uptake, which is why I was more than happy to open AEOS 3 in 2012, despite fiscal constraints. I secured funding of €20 million per annum for the Scheme and 6,000 applicants received approvals in May this year. The maximum payment is €4,000 per annum, with a minimum 5 year contract. The Scheme was oversubscribed, with...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Beef Industry Issues (24 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: .... The mid-year statistical trend for beef cows in the period from 1999 to 2012 is presented in the table below. Year Beef Cow Herd '000 head 1999 1,217.3 2000 1,187.0 2001 1,196.8 2002 1,154.2 2003 1,187.3 2004 1,207.1 2005 1,128.7 2006 1,182.4 2007 1,207.1 2008 1,220.1 2009 1,203.7 2010 1,158.4 2011 1,123.3 2012 1,148.6 Source: CSO June Livestock Survey The results for...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Reopening (24 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: The Agri-Environment Options Scheme has had a very positive uptake, which is why I was more than happy to open AEOS 3 in 2012, despite fiscal constraints. I secured funding of €20 million per annum for the Scheme and 6,000 applicants received approvals in May this year. The maximum payment is €4,000 per annum, with a minimum 5 year contract. The Scheme was oversubscribed, with...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Food Exports (24 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...options for Irish traders, the preponderance of Irish beef exports consists of chilled boneless product destined for other EU member states. According to Bord Bia estimates, the UK accounted for 52% of total export volumes in 2012 with virtually all the remainder going to Continental Europe where the main destinations (in order of importance) were France, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Cereal Sector (24 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...farmers, the cereals sector is a key source of grain for the milling and malting industry and feeding stuffs for the livestock sector. Annual cereals production in Ireland has fluctuated around 2 million tonnes in recent years and it is desirable to try and sustain this level of production in order to avoid over dependence on imported cereals. According to the CSO Cereals Supply Balance...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Salmon Hardship Scheme Issues (18 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...the impact on commercial salmon fishermen affected by his decision to close the drift net fishery. BIM administered the Scheme on behalf of the Minister and I am advised by BIM that over €23 million was paid out to over 1,000 former drift net salmon fishermen. In addition, a Community Support Scheme of €5 million was introduced by the then Minister for Community, Rural and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sea Lice Controls (18 Sep 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...Fisheries Fund and is covered by the separate Seafood Development Programme 2007-2013. The Irish seafood national programme was an ambitious plan that foresaw Exchequer supports of almost €75 million being made available to the seafood sector over the three years 2011-2013. This was separate and additional to Exchequer investment under the EU co-funded Seafood Development...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Reform of Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy: Discussion with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (18 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...was necessary because the existing policy was not as effective as it should have been in terms of ensuring that we protect and maintain fish stocks and support fishing communities. When, 20, 30 or 50 years from now, people look back at European policy from the point of view of fisheries, I hope this will be seen as a very radical point of change in terms of how European waters are fished....

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Food Exports (17 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...of supply and demand and other factors, but despite difficult economic conditions in the market place, Irish agrifood exports are continuing to perform strongly. The interim export target for 2015 is €10 billion and the fact that the value of agrifood and drink exports exceeded €9 billion for the first time ever in 2012 marks good progress so far. Since March 2011 when I...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...call to go in and do work for us in terms of inspections. It is a system that has been in place for a long time. We have reduced the cost of temporary veterinary inspectors by approximately €7 million over the past three or four years. Last year, we renegotiated their hourly rate, which was reduced by approximately 5%. This year, we are completing a more significant structural...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...is in respect of the suckler cow welfare scheme which has come to an end. We have introduced a new suckler cow data sharing system. For this reason, the allocation has been reduced from almost €30 million to €10 million. On the issue of BSE testing and compensation, the age of cows to be tested has been increased because we have succeeded in virtually eliminating BSE in...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (2 Jul 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...the Government. Most of our expenditure is on schemes and managing direct payments. The administration cost of running our Department in the past five or six years has decreased by nearly €90 million. We are performing well in trying to do more with less, which is what every Department and business must do. When examining the figures, the one for IT jumped out at me as well. I...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Disability Allowance Applications (19 Jun 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...and there are certain minimum numbers and types of inspections that must take place annually. Land eligibility inspection (either on-farm or by remote sensing) must be carried out on at least 5% of applicants. These checks are carried out to verify that the actual area claimed in the application form corresponds to the area farmed by the farmer and to ensure that any ineligible land or...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Suckler Welfare Scheme Application Numbers (19 Jun 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...breed animals which were born during the period 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2012. This Scheme was fully funded by the Exchequer. Over the five year duration of the Scheme, in excess of €155 million has already been delivered in support to suckler cow farmers. The Scheme has made an important contribution to improving the genetic quality of the national suckler herd and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fish Quotas (18 Jun 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...from the 2012 quotas. However, the 2012 quotas represented a 3 % increase on the 2011 quotas. Accordingly, whitefish quota levels have remained relatively stable over the recent past with some 36,538 tonnes of whitefish available to the Irish fishing fleet. Supplies of cod, in particular, to the EU market have increased significantly in 2013 reflecting the high quotas of cod in the...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agri-Environment Options Scheme Application Numbers (11 Jun 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...approved in the Agri Environment Options Scheme III. A total of 9,703 AEOS III applications were received by the closing date and have now been fully processed. Based on the annual budget of €20 million and following the ranking and selection process, a total of 6,000 applicants have been approved for participation in the scheme. County Total Carlow 25 Cavan 139 Clare 357...

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (22 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...large volumes from abroad, which had never happened previously. On 24 April I announced that we would essentially pay for the majority of the cost of transporting from the UK. I committed €1 million representing 1,000 truckloads. We have subsequently extended the scheme's deadline and have doubled the fund. The scheme ends on Friday but we have said we will extend it until Friday...

Topical Issue Debate: Fodder Crisis (22 May 2013)

Simon Coveney: ...price. We covered the cost of the transport. We have twice extended the deadline for the scheme and doubled the fund available. It may well be the case that we will have spent more than €2 million on the scheme by the time it is closed. So far, we have a total of 2,158 loads committed, 419 of which have yet to be delivered. That is over 40,000 tonnes of fodder, enough to feed...