Results 301-320 of 1,016,837 for in 'Dáil debates' OR speaker:Niall Collins in 'Committee meetings'

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (25 Apr 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: That is less.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: No. At the end of last year, it was 4,007. The current number is up ten on that, although it is similar. Our payroll budget is just over €250 million per year. This finances our salary and allowance costs for the full year of 2024. While my Department has not issued an embargo on staffing, as is borne out by the numbers employed and the figures on which I have given the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (25 Apr 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the Minister for his reply. As he may be aware, new conditions are coming in from Europe every year. The export of slurry is an example. Obviously, such new conditions require resources, as do the various schemes that the Minister introduces. What I am hearing from inside the Department is that people are being told that, if they are short staffed, then they will not get new staff...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: Local authorities play a role in providing services to some small abattoirs. Generally, there can be challenges with the availability of vets in various parts of the country, but my Department is committed to ensuring that this service is properly resourced and companies are facilitated as necessary and to working with local authorities, which have a role in respect of small abattoirs. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (25 Apr 2024)

Michael Fitzmaurice: For the Minister's information, there is fierce confusion among small abattoirs about the so-called new legislation that is under discussion. Councils are basically washing their hands of abattoirs and say that, since they do not have the resources, they will not go near them. One council has actually refused to help. The Minister is well aware of that situation. I have submitted a formal...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fodder Crisis (25 Apr 2024)

Peter Fitzpatrick: I am extremely concerned and I am sure the Minister is too. The adverse conditions have been really bad. There have been serious concerns around livestock and tillage. The Minister knows the spring crops such as barley have not been sown yet, even in County Louth, which is normally a very dry county. I ask the Minister again if he intends to reinstate the fodder schemes. There has been...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fodder Crisis (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: This Government has been very responsive and supported farmers in times of need and in the medium to long term, by means of significant investment. The CAP, which will run up to 2027, offers 50% higher funding. That is a record increase in Government funding. Over the past two or three years, where sectors have been under pressure, be it the pig sector, the horticulture sector or the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fodder Crisis (25 Apr 2024)

Peter Fitzpatrick: Is it true that Ireland received €1.6 billion in pillar 1 funding from the EU? That figure is effectively the same as it was ten years ago, despite significant inflation. The Minister mentioned that fertiliser, diesel and so on have gone up in price. Farmers are really struggling. I am a spokesperson for them. Everything has been put on hold for the past number of months. Farmers...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fodder Crisis (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: We are working to provide support. That is our track record. The Deputy is correct about pillar 1 payments at European level. The CAP budget at European level has been static from the previous CAP to this one. We are one of the 27 member states which is constantly pushing to maintain and increase it but of course 27 member states have to agree to the decision, so it has been static. That...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Forestry Sector (25 Apr 2024)

Forestry Sector

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Forestry Sector (25 Apr 2024)

Claire Kerrane: 56. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the awaited strategy to address ash dieback will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18246/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Forestry Sector (25 Apr 2024)

Claire Kerrane: When will the Minister publish the action plan and strategy for ash dieback? It is now seven months since the independent review was published. Farmers affected by ash dieback in particular, of whom I have met many, are on their knees. I have never met a group of farmers so down, depressed and worried, yet the action plan is nowhere to be seen. Every reply I get states that it will be in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Forestry Sector (25 Apr 2024)

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Senator Pippa Hackett): I thank Deputy Kerrane for the question. Since the first finding of ash dieback in Ireland in 2012, my Department has introduced reconstitution schemes to restore forests planted under the afforestation scheme which had suffered from or which were associated with plants affected by disease. A...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Forestry Sector (25 Apr 2024)

Claire Kerrane: It really is not good enough to keep using the phrase "the very near future". I have been getting that in replies for months. It has been seven months. I met with farmers in Galway a number of weeks ago. I met some in Wexford two weeks ago. They are broken. They put significant work into the plantations and they are dying. They are being left. It has been years and they are waiting...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Offices (25 Apr 2024)

Seán Canney: The Minister can revert to the Deputy with an answer on that because we are out of time. Has Deputy Ó Murchú something to say to the Minister before we conclude?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Offices (25 Apr 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: Yes. It concerns the launch date of the reformed reasonable accommodation fund. The Minister dealt with some of this earlier in respect of reviewing the entire process, particularly facilitating those with disabilities to enter the workplace. At times, there was a requirement on them or the employer, and it probably did not work perfectly regarding assistive technologies and so on. We...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Offices (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Out of courtesy, I will reply. We have done much work on reasonable accommodation because employers were not taking up the grants. We want them to do so in order that places can be adapted for people with disabilities to come to work. That is the number one point. We put a lot into this, so it will be launched very shortly. On Deputy Fitzpatrick’s query, could he bring the case...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions (25 Apr 2024)

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Supports (25 Apr 2024)

Agriculture Supports

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Supports (25 Apr 2024)

Claire Kerrane: 54. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will advise on measures to assist farmers with the difficulties they are facing as a result of weather conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18245/24]