Written Answers Nos. 102-108
102. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position he will take on setting fishing targets for 2015 at the Council meeting on 15-16 December 2014; his views on the achievement of the maximum sustainable yield exploitation rate in 2015 as outlined in Article 2.2 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47596/14]
View answerIn order to inform negotiations at the December Fisheries Council, I have had an assessment of the impacts of the Commission proposal for Total Allowable Catches and quotas for 2015 undertaken. The preparation of a Sea Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment is provided for in the Programme for Government. To facilitate and inform these deliberations, an open consultation process was put in place, whereby stakeholders were asked to submit their comments and observations on the Commission proposal for fishing opportunities for 2015. In addition, I convened a meeting of stakeholders on 26 of November which gave a further opportunity to key stakeholders to outline their position on the many aspects of this proposal. In all 5 submissions were received by the closure date. The specific details of the Commission’s proposal and the impact of those for Ireland are available in the document which has been laid before the Dáil and in the accompanying Stock Book, which was prepared by the Marine Institute.
I presented the Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on 2 December. In essence, I agreed with the sentiment in many of the contributions, which called for greater adherence to the available scientific advice to enable prudent and appropriate management decisions to be taken, allied with a concern about misapplication of some scientific advice. I do not agree with taking an overly narrow interpretation of some of the scientific advice. BIM estimate that if the Commission proposal is implemented without change, it would involve a net 20% cut in quotas for whitefish sector. Cuts to the pelagic stocks (herring, boarfish) are accepted by industry. BIM estimate that the direct value loss of the stocks covered by the SIA would be €31m, of which €18m is for the whitefish and prawn fleet. The indirect loss amounts to €78m with potential impact on jobs of 500 to 600 losses / reduced hours.
I will not support cuts where reliable scientifically vetted additional information is available to inform the decision or where there is a real risk of generating higher discard levels than at present or where the proposal would lead to increased discarding of fish. There is a high cost from a social and economic perspective when quota cuts are proposed and we have to be satisfied that in every case these cuts are justifiable. Fishing ports and communities all around our coast are dependent on fisheries for their very survival.
The Sustainability Impact Assessment was the subject of detailed discussion at the Oireachtas Committee, which will inform my negotiation position at the Fisheries Council. I will work closely with stakeholders and with other EU Ministers on stocks of common interest with a view to delivering quotas that are appropriate taking all concerns into account.
With regard to maximum sustainable yield (MSY), the new Common Fisheries Policy specifically calls for the progressive restoration and maintenance of populations of fish stocks above biomass levels capable of producing MSY. I am committed to the ambitious objective of achieving MSY by 2015 where possible and by 2020 at the latest. As President of the Council during the negotiations it fell to me to broker agreement on this important issue between the co-legislators. In line with the CFP, I consider that for some stocks we will need to phase in delivering MSY if its immediate application seriously jeopardises the social and economic sustainability of the fishing fleet.
I will be doing my utmost at Council to deliver fishing opportunities that balance the needs of coastal communities with the long term sustainability of the stocks upon which they depend.
103. D'fhiafraigh Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív den Aire Talmhaíochta, Bia agus Mara cén uair a dhéanfar íocaíocht faoi Scéim na Limistéar faoi Míbhuntáiste agus Íocaíocht Aonair Feirme do 2014 agus íocaíocht faoi Scéim REPS4 freisin le feirmeoir i gContae Mhaigh Eo (sonraí tugtha); cén fáth a bhfuil moill leis na híocaíochtaí sin; agus an ndéanfaidh sé ráiteas ina thaobh. [47597/14]
View answerChuir an duine ainmnithe iarratas faoin scéim Íocaíochta Feirme Aonair/scéim na Limistéar faoi Mhíbhuntáiste ar aghaidh an 14 Bealtaine 2014. Éilítear faoi na Rialacháin AE a rialaíonn riar na scéimeanna sin go gcomhlánaítear seiceálacha riaracháin cuimsitheacha agus iomlána, lena n-áirítear cigireachtaí ar an bhfeirm i gcásanna áirithe, sula n-eisítear aon íocaíochtaí
Roghnaíodh iarratas an duine ainmnithe chun cigireacht incháilitheachta talún a dhéanamh.
Tá an chigireacht tugtha chun críche agus tá na torthaí á chur le chéile anois le súil agus aon íocaíocht, lena n-áirítear íocaíochtaí i ndáil le REPS 4, a dhéanamh chomh luath agus is féidir. Sa chás go n-eascródh ceist ar bith maidir leis sin, déanfaidh oifigigh mo Roinne teagmháil leis an uine ainmnithe.
104. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Cavan has not been able to receive their single farm payment despite having sent in the forms on time; if failure to send an application for single farm payment in the appropriate envelope but by registered post could have caused the application to be mislaid; if he will deal with this case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47600/14]
View answerThe only application recorded as having been received by my Department from the person named in March was an application under the Beef Data Protection Scheme which was received on 21 March 2014.
An application under the 2014 Single Payment Scheme was received in my Department from the person named on 28 August 2014 on the original application form. As the closing date for this Scheme was 15 May 2014, a 100% late penalty was applied, as per the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme. The person named included a Certificate of Postage with this application, which is not acceptable as proof of postage. The only acceptable proof of postage is an Express Post receipt or a Registered Post receipt as clearly set out in the Scheme Terms and Conditions. My Department has written to the person named, informing him of the decision, and of his right to appeal.
105. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total amount of funding approved by his Department through the Office of Public Works for works arising out of the storms that occurred between 13 December 2013 and 6 January 2014; the amount claimed to date by local authorities; the amount expended to date by his Department; if any unspent balances for work not completed will be carried over into 2015 to enable the local authorities complete the works; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47604/14]
View answerMy Department does not approve any funding through the Office of Public Works but it does provide funding, where exchequer funds allow, for the development and repair of Local Authority owned piers and slipways under the Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme. On 20 March this year, as part of the Governments overall co-ordinated response to the damage caused by the winter storms, I approved a total of € 7 million in funding to the Local Authorities in 2014, for the repair of the public pier, harbour and slipway network linked to fisheries and aquaculture.
Funding of €7 million was approved for 111 projects to repair Local Authority owned storm damaged harbours, piers and slipways.
Of the €7m approved for Local Authority projects, a total of €5.39million has been claimed by the Local Authorities to date and those claims are being processed. An amount of €5,077.67 has been paid to date in relation to one claim. All other claims are currently being processed and appropriate payments will be made before the end of the year. All works must be completed in 2014 under the terms and conditions of the Storm Damage Programme, funding approved under the 2014 Programme cannot be carried over to 2015.
106. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if farmers who have no entitlements but have been submitting an area form over the past three years will automatically be entitled to entitlements for their land under the Common Agricultural Policy 2014 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47606/14]
View answerFarmers who did not receive a direct payment under any of the eligible schemes in 2013 do not hold an automatic allocation right to receive entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015.
The “Scottish Derogation” allows for the allocation of payment entitlements to persons who never held Single Payment Scheme entitlements, either owned or leased, but who can produce verifiable evidence that they actively farmed in 2013. This provision is currently the subject of discussion with the EU Commission and these discussions are due to be finalised shortly.
107. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total payout under the following schemes, single farm payment, disadvantaged area payment REP scheme and agri-environment options scheme, provided in tabular form, for the years 2010 to date in 2014, inclusive; the projected expenditure next year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47611/14]
View answerThe details requested are set out in the following table:
SCHEME
|
YEAR |
SFP |
DAS |
REPS |
AEOS1 |
AEOS2 |
AEOS3 |
|
2010 |
1,242,292,543.41 |
222,156,343 |
319,010,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2011 |
1,237,035,660.80 |
222,622,656 |
258,370,000 |
14,161,627 |
0 |
0 |
|
2012 |
1,215,710,128.41 |
210,704,655 |
194,780,000 |
45,014,686 |
10,306,628 |
0 |
|
2013 |
1,195,055,463.81 |
197,867,714 |
145,180,000 |
31,809,454 |
26,646,923 |
0 |
|
2014 (to date) |
1,136,006,688.48 |
185,462,408 |
114,740,000* |
22,414,860 |
6,764,273 |
12,080,066 |
|
2015 (Projected) |
1,200,000,000** |
195,000,000 |
51,400,000 |
- |
- |
Total estimated budget for 2015 for all three AEOS schemes is €69,077,000 |
*The 2014 figure for REPS is actual expenditure plus forecasted expenditure to end of year.
**SPS will no longer be applicable in 2015. It will be replaced by the Basic Payment Scheme along with new schemes such as the Greening Scheme, Young Farmers Scheme etc. The overall allocation for the Direct Payment Schemes for 2015 is €1.2 billion.
108. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he expects the GLAS scheme to open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47612/14]
View answerGLAS (the Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme) is part of a suite of proposed measures under Ireland’s Rural Development Programme (RDP) which was submitted to the European Commission in July. The Commission services have recently notified us of their observations on the draft Scheme, to which my Department provided immediate and detailed replies. Discussions are now continuing with the Commission, with a view to gaining approval at the earliest possible date. Once approval is granted, my Department will move to open the Scheme for applications.
