Results 281-300 of 1,098,140 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Máiría Cahill OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:David Stanton OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae) in 'Committee meetings'

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pigmeat Sector (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Government strongly condemns any cruelty or mistreatment of any animal. It is my Department's policy to investigate all allegations of illegal or criminal behaviour and to prepare files for appropriate action. We have very robust animal welfare legislation in this country. The welfare of all animals, in particular those in intensively reared systems such as pigs, is a priority for my...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pigmeat Sector (3 Jul 2025)

Paul Murphy: Pigs are highly intelligent, sociable creatures. The farms were selected at random and all of them demonstrated horrific conditions for pigs. They were in a desperate state. Dead pigs were just lying there, as were pigs that were severely injured and heading towards death. Pigs were trapped in very small spaces. They are in grim indoor spaces and they never go outside in their whole...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pigmeat Sector (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I repeat that the Government strongly condemns any cruelty or mistreatment of any animal. We carry out risk-based assessments. We also carry out investigations into any allegations of illegal or criminal behaviour and we prepare files for the Director of Public Prosecutions, as appropriate. That is a strong priority of my Department. We take that responsibility very seriously. I want to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Agriculture Schemes

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Mattie McGrath: 79. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide a full explanation for the ongoing delays in issuing ACRES payments to participating farmers; the number of applicants still awaiting full or partial payment under all streams of the scheme; the urgent steps being taken by his Department to resolve system bottlenecks and ensure timely payment to farmers who have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I want to ask the Minister about the ongoing delays in issuing ACRES payments. Farmers signed up to these schemes in good faith. There are delays in payment even in cases of full compliance. The issue is an inability to pay. I want answers as to what the Minister is doing about it. What is the reason for the delay? Is it merely that the Department does not have the funding to pay the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I hope the Deputy always expects a good answer, not just to one question. I thank him very much for raising the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES. The scheme is very important. I accept that there are challenges in regard to it for some farmers. ACRES is the flagship environmental scheme provided under the 2023-27 CAP strategic plan, with €1.5 billion in Exchequer and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Mattie McGrath: The Minister calls ACRES a flagship scheme. I wonder about that. The ongoing and completely unacceptable delays in the issuing of ACRES payments is a matter of deep concern to farmers across the country. It is just not fair. Farmers who entered this scheme did so in good faith, on the understanding that they would be paid in a timely manner. Yet, here we are, halfway into 2025, and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Animal Diseases (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I want to provide that clarity as soon as possible and to restore confidence in this scheme. The final set of proposals I bring forward will be the biggest change in our approach to TB in the 75 years the disease has been in this country. I have held discussions and meetings that have fed into the TB plan, which I intend to finalise the details of and publish shortly. At a Cabinet meeting...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Fishing Industry

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: 77. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will direct the Marine Institute to undertake a formal stock assessment of sprat, with a view to introducing a total allowable catch; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36041/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: Will the Minister direct the Marine Institute to undertake a formal stock assessment of sprat, with a view to identifying a total allowable catch, and will he make a statement on the matter?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Timmy Dooley: I thank the Deputy for her question. Sprat is a small pelagic schooling fish that occurs inshore. Sprat is a short-lived species and an important prey fish for many marine species, those vital to the ocean food chain, as well as an important source of income for inshore fishermen. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES, considers sprat to be a data limited stock,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Minister of State. Sprat is not economically important. It is quite a low-value fishery but it is ecologically valuable. Everything feeds on it, from fish, whales and dolphins to seabirds. If we do not have sprat, we do not have those other species. Unfortunately, we are in a situation where, because it has not been deemed economically valuable enough, we do not have stock...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Timmy Dooley: I am aware of the Deputy's knowledge and experience in this area, and I take that on board. She is right to identify sprat as an important feeder stock for mammals, birds and other fish species in those areas she has identified. I will continue to engage with the Marine Institute with regard to the information it has and data it is capturing as part of its overall assessment of stocks in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: I ask the Minister of State to provide some information on the point that process has reached. I am interested in hearing when a decision will be made. The reality is that, in the absence of data, the fundamental approach to take with any stock is the precautionary principle. That essentially means working on a risk-averse basis. We are not doing that at the moment, and it is important we...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Timmy Dooley: The overall catch of stock has grown significantly in recent years. That indicates that there is not a major threat in the short term to the supply of sprat. However, it is my view that to continue to fish at those levels would certainly lead to a significant negative impact. I will get into the process that is under way a little later. I have to be mindful, in whatever decision is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pigmeat Sector (3 Jul 2025)

Pigmeat Sector

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pigmeat Sector (3 Jul 2025)

Paul Murphy: 78. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will outlaw teeth-clipping, tail-docking and castration in pig farming and regulate sow stalls and farrowing crates to have an area of not less than 5 sq. m, so as to improve animal welfare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36640/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pigmeat Sector (3 Jul 2025)

Paul Murphy: Last Tuesday, I introduced a Bill to ban pig mutilation, sow stalls and farrowing crates, which the EU has already committed to phase out and for which the Minister is already giving grants to farmers to move away from. The question is whether he will take a lead on this, as the Government did under pressure from campaigners on fur farming, where it moved ahead of the rest of the European...