Wednesday, 17 Jun 2015

Written Answers Nos. 122 to 131

Farm Inspections

Questions (122)

Seán Fleming

Question:

122. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 88 of 25 March 2015, if the information in respect of 2014 will be supplied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24026/15]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The following tables detail the outcome of the 2014 Full Cross Compliance and Animal Identification and Registration Inspections. It should be noted that this data is subject to change as the outcome of review requests and appeals to the Agriculture Appeals Office are finalised.

2014 Full Cross Compliance Inspections

County	Number Completed	Number of Clear Cases (No Breach)	Number with Minor Breach*	Number with Penalty/Sanction
Carlow	30	6	9	15
Cavan	34	3	11	20
Clare	48	11	18	19
Cork	150	25	58	67
Donegal	44	27	11	6
Dublin	10	2	3	5
Galway	118	41	33	44
Kerry	68	23	23	22
Kildare	34	14	11	9
Kilkenny	47	10	14	23
Laois	51	9	29	13
Leitrim	24	10	6	8
Limerick	87	26	43	18
Longford	26	4	12	10
Louth	27	9	11	7
Mayo	72	32	18	22
Meath	48	10	24	14
Monaghan	44	7	15	22
Offaly	40	10	12	18
Roscommon	39	9	12	18
Sligo	34	18	7	9
Tipperary	127	14	53	60
Waterford	41	3	16	22
Westmeath	34	6	11	17
Wexford	65	14	19	32
Wicklow	26	7	11	8
Total	1,368	350	490	528

* 'Minor Breach' refers to cases with minor non-compliances resulting in no monetary sanction

2014 Animal IDR Inspections

County	Number Completed	Number of Clear Cases (No Breach)	Number with Minor Breach*	Number with Penalty/Sanction
Carlow	53	20	19	14
Cavan	200	52	84	64
Clare	186	63	88	35
Cork	361	109	147	105
Donegal	201	121	42	38
Dublin	38	17	11	10
Galway	410	178	134	98
Kerry	241	159	47	35
Kildare	116	47	40	29
Kilkenny	127	46	48	33
Laois	112	24	59	29
Leitrim	89	40	28	21
Limerick	200	70	83	47
Longford	110	40	47	23
Louth	48	14	23	11
Mayo	372	176	116	80
Meath	183	81	73	29
Monaghan	197	59	92	46
Offaly	125	43	58	24
Roscommon	221	78	84	59
Sligo	133	53	44	36
Tipperary	385	96	173	116
Waterford	119	23	48	48
Westmeath	154	46	69	39
Wexford	216	67	69	80
Wicklow	146	71	36	39
Total	4,743	1,793	1,762	1,188

* 'Minor Breach' refers to cases with minor non-compliances resulting in no monetary sanction.

The data on the value of 2014 Cross Compliance penalties is currently being finalised for EU reporting requirements and will be provided when available.

Single Payment Scheme Applications

Questions (123)

Dara Calleary

Question:

123. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo has been refused entitlements under the single payment scheme. [24074/15]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

My Department received a 2014 Transfer of Entitlements application on 7 May 2015 to transfer 4.70 entitlements by way of sale to the person named from another person. The closing date for receipt of Transfer of Entitlements applications for the 2014 Single Payment Scheme Year was 15 May 2014. As such, it was not possible for my Department to process this application. A letter was issued from my Department to both parties on 9 June 2015 advising them that their late application had been rejected due to the fact that it was received after the closing date of 15 May 2014.

Both parties have been advised that if they are dissatisfied with my Department's decision, they may submit an appeal providing details of any extenuating circumstances which led to the late application. To date no appeal has been received.

Fish Farming

Questions (124, 125, 126)

Clare Daly

Question:

124. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 223 of 3 April 2014, the reason he replied regarding the inspection of licensed aquaculture sites that he was satisfied that the current inspection regime is satisfactory, when at the same time he provided the European Commission with a programme of measures intended to avoid daily fines for non-compliance with the European Court of Justice case C-418/04, informing the Commission that a dedicated monitoring and compliance unit has been established within his Department to ensure enhanced monitoring and regulatory standards, practices and procedures, and that he had substantially enhanced the existing regulatory procedures and supplements for all other inspections of sites. [24147/15]

Clare Daly

Question:

125. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will outline the very substantial enhancement of the existing regulatory procedure which supplements all other inspections of sites, specifying how it supplements the inspection checklist for marine fish farms which was first published in 2000 and which is currently the sole record of fish farm inspections made available to members of the public. [24148/15]

Clare Daly

Question:

126. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the structure, staffing and resources allocated to the marine fish farms monitoring and compliance unit; the date it was established; the number of meetings it has held; and any work it has undertaken. [24149/15]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 to 126, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy has been previously advised, I am satisfied that the current inspection regime operated by my Department is satisfactory. The establishment of the Monitoring and Compliance Unit referred to by the Deputy has added a further enhancement to the monitoring and regulatory standards, practices and procedures already in place. A key element of the work carried out by the Monitoring and Compliance Unit is the undertaking of Integrated Systems Inspections of selected aquaculture licensed operations to further ensure that all the terms & conditions of the licence(s) are fully adhered to by the operator. This procedure is over and above other inspections of sites carried out in the normal way by my Department and relevant agencies.

The Monitoring & Compliance Unit forms part of the Aquaculture & Foreshore Management Division of my Department and was established following the transfer of certain Foreshore functions to the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government in 2010.

The Unit has a current staffing allocation of 1 Higher Executive Officer, 1 Executive Officer and 1 Clerical Officer. Specialised technical and scientific inputs to the work of the Unit are sourced as necessary from my Department’s Engineering Division and relevant agencies.

Fish Farming

Questions (127, 128)

Clare Daly

Question:

127. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will confirm that the majority of site inspections undertaken by his Department do not check the condition of the shackles, an important structural component of fish farm installations, when an inspection of these shackles is required on his Department’s checklist for marine fish farms; and the measures he plans to take to ensure that inspection checklists for marine fish farms are properly completed. [24150/15]

Clare Daly

Question:

128. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will confirm that there is no requirement to ensure operators of marine fish farms undertake appropriate and regular inspections of every item of the mooring system by divers, cleaned down where necessary to allow such inspections, with its conditions recorded and submitted to his Department, as recommended to him by his Department's engineering division; and if he is satisfied that no such requirement is needed, in view of the failure of such structural components at Inver Bay in 2010, Clew Bay in 2010, and Bantry Bay in 2014 with the total loss of more than 300,000 salmon. [24151/15]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 and 128 together.

My Department's Inspection Checklist for Marine Finfish Farms includes a section on the condition of the shackles and where appropriate and in so far as it is possible to do so, having regard to visibility constraints pertaining at the time, this section is filled in by the inspector.

I would also point out that my Department is currently finalising a Protocol for the Structural Design of Marine Finfish Farms that will specifically address the structural design of the components of finfish farms including the shackles and other important elements of the farm structure. I can also confirm that the Inspection Checklist for Marine Finfish Farms is currently being updated by my Department.

Bord na gCon

Questions (129)

Éamon Ó Cuív

Question:

129. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Irish Greyhound Board will require his permission to sell the Greyhound Stadium in Harold’s Cross in Dublin 6W; if the board has discussed this issue with him; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24181/15]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The Indecon report which was published in July 2014 contained 27 recommendations, including a recommendation that a plan for asset disposals should be implemented. The Indecon report included Harolds Cross greyhound racing facility in the list of potential asset disposals. Following the publication of the Indecon Report Bord na gCon submitted an action plan to my Department with timelines for implementing the recommendations. Bord na gCon has assured my Department that it has assiduously followed up on the undertakings included in its response to the Indecon Report.

In accordance with the provisions contained in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies and in accordance with the Horse and Greyhound Racing (Betting Charges and Levies) Act 1999, Section 10 (18C) Bord na gCon must obtain the consent of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for the disposal of any property. I have not received any request for such consent at this point.

Air Ambulance Service Provision

Questions (130)

Pat Breen

Question:

130. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Defence the number of missions carried out by a service (details supplied) in County Clare in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23999/15]

Written answers

Minister for Defence

The pilot Emergency Aeromedical Support (EAS) service, as operated by the Air Corps, completed 16 missions in County Clare during 2014.

Coroners Service

Questions (131)

Patrick O'Donovan

Question:

131. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide, in tabular form, by county, the number of cases dealt with by coroners in 2014; the total cost in each county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24000/15]

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

The details in respect of the number of cases dealt with annually by coroners are available on the website www.coroners.ie under "Publications".

The number of cases dealt with by coroners in 2014 are set out in the following Table:

Area	Report	Report and Post Mortem	Report/Post Mortem and Inquest
Carlow	103	31	31
Cavan	159	30	33
Clare	314	59	37
Cork Co Borough	566	159	192
Cork North	263	72	36
Cork South	353	74	50
Cork West	119	28	27
Donegal North East	74	43	2
Donegal North West	271	43	34
Donegal South East	101	18	14
Donegal South West	115	8	17
Dublin	2838	1236	666
Galway East	234	68	35
Galway North	44	21	12
Galway West	488	171	79
Kerry North	67	24	3
Kerry South East	162	28	12
Kerry West	171	56	34
Kildare	359	101	74
Kilkenny	184	67	31
Laois	103	54	17
Leitrim	59	23	10
Limerick City	49	28	35
Limerick South East	228	81	40
Limerick West	129	1	27
Longford	63	17	11
Louth	256	93	55
Mayo East	20	10	5
Mayo North	44	12	21
Mayo South	178	118	58
Meath	245	104	40
Monaghan North	39	13	6
Monaghan South	47	1	11
Offaly	157	32	19
Roscommon	149	6	31
Sligo	182	97	41
Tipperary North	179	29	14
Tipperary South	177	66	28
Waterford City	125	108	26
Waterford East	104	22	5
Waterford West	14	9	6
Westmeath	231	55	33
Wexford	394	67	56
Wicklow East	164	24	33
Wicklow West	38	5	6

Information on the cost of the Corners Service in each county is being compiled and verified by Departments officials and will be forwarded to the Deputy when completed.