Results 281-300 of 1,016,925 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh) in 'Committee meetings'

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank Deputy Kerrane. As she knows, I have committed to supporting the group known as the forgotten farmers. I have made a clear commitment to them that I will deliver support to reflect the impact their missing out on certain payments had on their farming enterprises. This is a group of farmers whose members were under 40 in 2015 when the situation first came to light. At that point,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (25 Apr 2024)

Claire Kerrane: I appreciate and acknowledge that the Minister has committed to this group of farmers that he will come up with a scheme that will financially support them, given they did lose out. At one point, the scheme was to be prepared in the first quarter of 2023. It was then to be published in May 2023. The system was being put together in February, and it is now April 2024. In a number of weeks,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: It is a legacy issue that goes back to 2015 and I am committed to addressing it. Obviously, a key focus in the past year has been getting the current CAP programme up and running, making sure the schemes are running smoothly and putting the systems and structures in place for that. That has been a big area of emphasis and priority within the Department. All these farmers, as well as all...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (25 Apr 2024)

Claire Kerrane: As the Minister has said, this issue was identified back in 2015 and 2016. It has now been nearly a decade since then. In the past ten years, I do not believe it is fair or makes much sense, given this Government has now been in place for four years. If the Department was going to establish a system in February, it is now April. Given there are no details of the scheme or what it will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: I have very clearly committed to delivering a solution and outcome for these farmers. A number of considerations are being fully explored, for example, state aid considerations, the capacity to deliver it, and how it could be delivered within state aid constraints. There is also the budgetary aspect of it as well as the building out of the IT system which would be needed to identify all the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Agriculture Industry

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Peadar Tóibín: 59. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farms in Ireland in each of the past ten years. [17665/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Peadar Tóibín: In 2011, 73,000 people declared their occupation to be farmers. In 2016, this had fallen to approximately 69,000 people who declared their occupation to be farmers. In the 2022 census, this had fallen again to 61,000 people who declared their occupation to be farmers. This is an 11% decrease and an acceleration in the number of people who are no longer self-identifying as a farmer because...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Charlie McConalogue: My Department monitors the information on farms and the wider agrifood sector. We do that in collaboration with Teagasc and the Central Statistics Office, and that is ongoing at all times. The number of farms in Ireland is recorded every ten years in the CSO census of agriculture, most recently in 2010 and 2020. In addition, the CSO undertakes farm structure surveys periodically between...

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 accept people’s frustration. They have been waiting a long time, but it is important that we get this right. This is not just a decision for me to make in my Department. Rather, it requires engagement across the Government, in particular with the Department of public expenditure. ...

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

Claire Kerrane: The Minister of State is asking those affected to use the reconstitution scheme, but we all know what the independent review thought about that scheme, namely that it was insufficient. In fact, the review went much further than that in its criticism of the scheme. Why would we ask farmers and others affected to avail of a scheme that, following examination, has been found to be...

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 assure the Deputy that meetings on this issue are happening every day in order to get it over the line and get it right. The independent review group did good work. The Deputy made some disparaging comments about its work-----

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

Claire Kerrane: No, I did not.

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): -----and claimed that it had simply told us everything we already knew.

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

Claire Kerrane: True.

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): That was not quite fair. We doubled the clearance rate grant. One of the recommendations was that we increase that. The reconstitution scheme is the first step towards any support that might be put in place for farmers. They have to go through this step. There is no point in waiting;...

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

Departmental Staff

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

Michael Fitzmaurice: 57. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total number of employees employed by his Department at the end of 2022 and at the end of 2023; the current numbers for 2024; if there is an embargo on recruitment in his Department at the moment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18678/24]

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

Michael Fitzmaurice: How many people were employed by the Department at the end of 2022 and at the end of 2023 and what are the present numbers? Is it true that there is an embargo on recruiting people into his Department until others retire? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

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

Charlie McConalogue: Over the past five years, my Department's business needs have grown significantly. In 2018, its workforce totalled 3,336 staff. The Department has increased its staffing numbers considerably since then in order to ensure that we meet our commitment to deliver a quality service to all in the agricultural community and to all other citizens who depend on my Department for overseeing food...