Results 1-20 of 267 for at speaker:Pippa Hackett

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Farmers Charter (14 May 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Cathaoirleach, welcome those in the Visitors Gallery and thank Senator Boyhan for raising this issue. The farmers' charter review group began renegotiations of the new farmers' charter in early January 2023. The aim of the review group is to agree standards and delivery targets for schemes and services provided by my Department. It includes protocols in respect of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Farmers Charter (14 May 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Senator. As he said, the charter is imminent. We are very hopeful of having a new charter in place very soon. I understand the importance of having the process completed and of having a charter that is fit for purpose and has the elements of fairness and transparency, which the Senator has highlighted. I will certainly take away the Senator's concerns on cross-compliance....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Apr 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I acknowledge the families of the 48 victims of the Stardust tragedy, their friends and the wider community, who for 43 years have waited for justice and who today have received a State apology from the Taoiseach. Neither last week's verdict of unlawful killing nor the Taoiseach's apology today can ever make up for the loss of their loved ones. I hope, however, that the recognition of the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Vacant Properties (6 Mar 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I sincerely thank Senator Chambers for raising this really important issue and allowing me the opportunity to provide an update on this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Coveney. It is important to first acknowledge a high level of vacancy does not represent a productive use of commercial infrastructure. However, it should also be noted that vacancy levels can rise and fall...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Forestry Sector (22 Feb 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I am aware of some concerns. The Deputy may be meeting different people from those I have met, because the programme was warmly welcomed. After a long period, it was great to get the programme across the line last September. It has been warmly welcomed and there has been great engagement at the many forestry promotion events across the country that Teagasc, private forestry owners and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Forestry Sector (22 Feb 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I have met with SEEFA and the IFA and am aware of their concerns. Both organisations, along with other stakeholders, sit on the afforestation working group which is teasing out some of the issues and looking for opportunities to take a slightly different approach while remaining within the confines of the regulations from the European Commission. I am not sure if the Deputy is condoning...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Post Office Network (31 Jan 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Senators for raising this issue. It is a very pertinent issue and one I can relate to, being from County Mayo. I am aware of the importance of the post office in any town. I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on this matter today on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. An Post is a commercial State company with a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Public Transport (31 Jan 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I thank Senator O'Loughlin for her Commencement matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this important topic. I want to clarify that the Minister has responsibility for policy and overall funding as regards public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Agriculture Supports (22 Jan 2024)

Pippa Hackett: It is not sustainable for any Department to continue to pay out funding on one-off measures. That is why the focus has to be on the future, on mitigation and on climate adaptation. That is why I urge the Senator, her colleagues and the farmers she represents to engage with that consultation and highlight what will stop them. We cannot keep going back out when something happens saying we...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Library (22 Jan 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I thank Senator Warfield for raising this Commencement matter. I am here on behalf of the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Martin. I will provide an overview on the establishment of a digital legal deposit for Irish web archiving and an associated timeline. Legal deposit legislation is an important instrument in national cultural policy. It is relied...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Conservation (22 Jan 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Senator. I listened with interest to both her concerns and the points she raised. There are challenges when it comes to apartment blocks and how the Department deals with them. It is eager to iron out some of these difficulties and to understand how best it can move matters forward. The project being supported at the EU level will in some ways help to iron out a number of...

Seanad: An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (An Teaghlach), 2023: An Dara Céim - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023: Second Stage (22 Jan 2024)

Pippa Hackett: I will share my time with Senator Garvey. Before I begin, I would also like to pay tribute to Senator David Norris as he retires from political life. I did not have an opportunity earlier. I pay particular tribute to his work to advance LGBT+ rights in Ireland despite the great personal cost. As the first openly gay person elected to public office, he smashed a glass ceiling so that...

Seanad: Hypothermia Scalp Cooling Therapy: Motion [Private Members] (13 Dec 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I am here to support my colleagues with the motion. Everyone can relate to what it means to people. Pretty much everyone in the country has been touched by cancer or had a close friend or family member touched by it. My mother went through this. She had shortish hair at one stage and it was not so bad losing it. We were younger at the time - I was in my late teens or early 20s - but it...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Beef Sector (7 Dec 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I am answering this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, is the body approved in Ireland in accordance with the relevant EU legislation to conduct testing, genetic evaluations and publication of breeding values for dairy and beef cattle. As part of its remit, the ICBF recently updated its beef...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (26 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I thank Deputy Smith for the question. It is an important aspect and something many people want to understand. The Deputy will probably be aware that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is responsible for the reporting of emissions and removals associated with land use activities on an annual basis to the EU and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (26 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I completely agree with what the Deputy is saying. Alongside the work that is being done on hedgerows, Teagasc is also doing work on soil carbon and the effects of the losses and sequestration there. Mapping is important but I certainly believe with regard to public spaces, that is perhaps where the mapping aspect will come in. We identify those areas where there are trees in public...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (26 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: ...Deputy. As she outlines, social farming is continuing to grow. It certainly is growing year on year and its reach is far, and very much into the lives of many people for their enrichment and that whole connection with people. The social farming network funded by the Department is still in development. We are at a stage of growth. It requires substantial support. Certainly, as I...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (11 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: ...real change in the way we farm and in our environment. I will reopen the organic farming scheme to new applicants very shortly. Again, we will see the massive interest in this sector, showing that farmers want to produce food in a nature-friendly way and that Government will back them all the way. This Government is backing farmers, backing the environment and backing rural Ireland....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I thank the Minister and I thank the members of the committee for this invitation today. I am very keen to discuss the strategy and, most importantly, and of immediate significance, is the new forestry programme. As the Minister mentioned, it has been a very long process to arrive at a new vision, strategy and forestry programme for Ireland. It involved extensive public and stakeholder...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Pippa Hackett: I will deal with those first and then we can catch up with the rest later. I thank the Chairman for his welcome of the programme. We all share the hope that the programme will deliver what it needs to deliver. While more land is now not eligible to plant, there still is a considerable amount of land that is eligible to be planted on. Farmers can engage with foresters and Teagasc...