Results 621-640 of 1,074,940 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan)

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: The money for these vets comes from the witnesses' Department to the county council. It is what is called a contra item. I am trying to remember.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: The county councils call it a contra item and each year it is in the budget. Would those vets be approved by the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: Would they be qualified?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: There would be a standard they would have to meet.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: That is important because these are only small abattoirs attached to butcher shops and they would operate to high standards. It is important they are not put out of business because they are probably the ones that are using the best practice. There is one issue on my mind regarding horses and it has come up here several times. The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, IHRB, is funded by...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: We have raised this with the IHRB in this committee and it assured us that it does not feel that it impinges in a negative way. Do the witnesses understand the point I am making?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: I am aware that it has increased. The witnesses might clarify this point when they come back with the piece of information on whether there is an arbitration.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: I want to raise the issue of tuberculosis, TB, screening. The committee previously did a report on this and we put in some recommendations which I want to revert to, because it has been a problem in this country for longer than I have been around. The incidents of it are increasing. If I heard correctly over the last few days, incidents in the first six months of this year are up again....

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: It is really concerning.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: Farmers are terrified. I have spoken to some of them and they really are concerned about this.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: It suggests that given the scale of it and the rate at which it is increasing, it will be doubled very soon if we do not sort it. This needs to be treated as an emergency by the Department and by the agriculture sector. This has the potential to spread. It has high levels of contagion and it has been a problem since the 1940s and 1950s. As a child, I remember hearing about TB in the herd...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: That is not counting salary costs.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: That is a huge increase. The part coming from the European Union is €2 million to €3 million a year according to notes we have here.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: We are on our own after that. It is the farmers and the taxpayers after this.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: The taxpayer piece is going from €57 million in 2022 to over €80 million this year.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: Why is TB increasing when we are putting significant funding into it? The witnesses gave us five reasons. Is there one single thing that can be done to try to stop the spread because it has huge implications for the dairy industry and the public purse? As a food producer, it has huge implications.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (11 Jul 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I thank the Minister of State. Regarding offshore energy, many companies and people are making great strides already in this field. I commend Shannon-Foynes Port for the work it has done to date and for its Vision 2041 strategy that laid out in detail many of the challenges and potential available from offshore energy, especially in the mid-west region. The port is in proximity to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (11 Jul 2024)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge his work, the work of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment and its report on this space in 2023. We are focused on this. Our Department is working through our regional enterprise committees right across the country to identify the opportunities, and especially looking at ports to identify the infrastructure we need. It is vital we are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (11 Jul 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I thank the Minister of State. As I have said before, the development of offshore wind energy can be our generation's Ardnacrusha moment. We either act now or fall behind our competitors, which are basically Scotland, Germany and other countries. We can harness this energy and export the excess Ireland does not need or we can import it from abroad. That is the choice we are facing. It is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (11 Jul 2024)

Dara Calleary: We are very well progressed. We are putting the foundation stones in place. We will ensure that when the technology is available to us to maximise the offshore advantages, especially off our Atlantic coast, we will be in a position to maximise it. Our Department is investing considerably in the supply chains issue. We had an excellent event with the Scottish Government recently and our...