Results 1-20 of 85 for sfpa segment:8280260

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: To save jobs, help the industry and make sure that vessels do not turn away from Ireland, would the SFPA consider the option as a compromise? If the Department or a charity owned it would the SFPA be happy then to have it calibrated and use that as an option? There are two options. Would the SFPA be willing to use that as an option if it was not industry owned?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...Mr. Hayes not understand why it is difficult for this committee to comprehend why after all those years when landings through the North were taking place - thousands every year since 1983 while the SFPA has been existence as a regulator since 2006 - it is only now in this high-profile scenario where processors have challenged the SFPA that the SFPA is ruling on permits. Perhaps it has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Mr. Paschal Hayes: We thank the committee for the invitation to appear today. We welcome the interest in the SFPA and its work as the regulator for the sea-fisheries and seafood sectors. We also welcome the opportunity to outline how we seek to ensure effective and fair regulation of the areas under the authority’s mandate in order to support safe, authentic and sustainable seafood....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Michael Collins: I thank Mr. O'Mahony. The last time we had witnesses here from the SFPA, the then chair, Dr. Susan Steele - who has since moved to a different job and we wish her the best with that - claimed there was a good working relationship between the SFPA and the industry and its representatives. This committee, however, has been strongly advised that this is not the case. I ask Mr. Hayes to inform...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Mr. Paschal Hayes: The answer to the initial question was "No". The SFPA is independent in the performance of its duties. The two officials the Deputy named work for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and have no function in regard to the SFPA.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Michael Collins: Under whose instruction is the SFPA employing methods of monitoring and regulation that are not being used anywhere else in the EU? Are such decisions taken by Mr. Hayes or by the SFPA management board? Are the instructions handed down from above?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: But the SFPA decides then, because the SFPA decided in a case, which is a unique case, to strip away the weighing licence of two operators. This was because, what, loads of publicity because RTÉ was showing up what was happening in this dispute?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: The industry has made an offer to the SFPA that it will purchase it or gift it to the SFPA, is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I did not ask about that. Can the SFPA confirm whether Ireland is the most compliant in the EU? Surely the SFPA must know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Has the SFPA taken control of the system? Has the SFPA done the natural thing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Thomas Pringle: That is grand. The representatives go on to state there is a risk of non-compliance with the audit form and that the SFPA was not sufficiently robust either. What was the fault of the SFPA in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: That is not the question I asked. I asked how many times the SFPA has withdrawn the permit from an operator for landings that came through the North. The SFPA has been in existence since 2006.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will ask my question again. Did the SFPA articulate, prior this matter, unfortunately, going to the High Court, that the difficulty was that the matter was in the control of the industry? These were the concerns of the SFPA before the case went to the High Court. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I have here a copy of correspondence sent to Mr. Hayes on 5 May from the SFPA consultative committee, which exists under the same legislation as the SFPA. It has grave concerns about how this has been handled and the lack of consultation with it. It asks, if the ownership of the flow scales on the pier in Killybegs is transferred to systems not operated or owned by the industry, whether the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. On the procedure, the officials have mentioned that it is common for fish to be landed in a jurisdiction and then to be purchased by operators. Basically, the SFPA has intruded in another jurisdiction. Will the witnesses convince the committee that what the SFPA has done is not vindictive as a result of the controversy that is going on in Killybegs, which is very serious? I respect...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Michael Collins: ..., IFSA. They have worked hard to try to make the lives of fishermen a little easier in what are extremely difficult times. I hope this will be the first of many meetings we will have with the SFPA and perhaps with other organisations. A massive gap needs to be bridged between the man or woman on the ground and the SFPA. This is obvious to the whole country and perhaps the whole world....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: ...and management of those fish stocks is their livelihood. The question I asked is in relation to procedures around landing in Derry. What are the procedures for notification? How has the SFPA identified whether weighing has taken place or not? What are the procedures that alert the SFPA to decide to follow up action in relation to processors which may have purchased fish shore-landed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Mr. Miche?l O'Mahony: The instructions are set out in the EU regulations. The SFPA is the regulator and implements the regulations. The regulations come to us from the legislators, including the Houses of the Oireachtas, and we implement them. As Mr. Hayes said, the default position, the starting point or the baseline of the regulations is such that the fish are weighed immediately on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: ...Protection Authority ensure that the regulations which have nothing to do with it, because the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in the North is supposed to do this and the SFPA is not concerned whether fish is being landed in France, Spain or wherever because the SFPA has its job to do in the jurisdiction in which it is the competent authority. How is the authority...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Weighing of Fisheries Products: Discussion (18 May 2022)

Tim Lombard: ...a few minor questions to which the witnesses might be able to respond. Mr. Hayes mentioned in his previous statements that the permanent control plan is being worked on at present and that the SFPA is in initial if not deep negotiations with the Commission on it. Will he elaborate on the timelines and when the authority proposes to have the control plan brought forward? What changes is...