Written Answers Nos. 469-481
469. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when applications for foreshore licences (details supplied) will be approved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30420/15]
View answerMy Department is currently processing the applications referred to by the Deputy in accordance with applicable legislation and in conjunction with ongoing legal advice. Every effort is being made to conclude the processing of the application as soon as possible having regard to all legal requirements.
As the application is under consideration as part of a statutory process it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this time.
470. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on allocating €25 million in funding for the ewe flock in budget 2016. [31196/15]
View answer471. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on allocating €65 million for the suckler cow herd through the beef data and genomics scheme in the upcoming budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31197/15]
View answer472. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on allocating €15 million of funding for the roll-out of the knowledge transfer programmes across all sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31198/15]
View answer473. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on allocating €40 million required for on-farm investment through the TAMS II programme and increased funding for the TB eradication programme, to include increased consequential loss payments for farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31199/15]
View answer474. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to allocate €250 million to the agri-environment schemes in the upcoming budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31357/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 470 to 474, inclusive, together.
The 2016 Estimate for my Department will be considered within the context of the annual gross expenditure ceilings which will be allocated to all Departments at the time of budget 2016. The Spring Economic Statement has outlined that fiscal space amounting to €1.2 billion to €1.5 billion, split between expenditure increases and tax reductions, will be available to the Government. This will provide the Government with the opportunity to reduce the tax burden for low and middle income earners, encourage further economic growth and increase investment in public services.
In this context, preparations for the discussions on the 2016 Estimate are under way in the Department and all budget lines in the Vote, both capital and current, will be examined as part of that process. My intention is to ensure that all resources available to my Department will be managed to provide the optimum benefit to economic activity in the agricultural, food, fisheries and forestry sectors, including farm incomes, and to realising the potential which exists within the sectors.
475. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if arrangements will be made to accommodate farmers who transferred land without entitlements in the first half of 2015 in circumstances where those transfers without entitlement were in error, and where the farmers in question now wish to transfer the entitlements to the recipients of the lands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30445/15]
View answerIn the case of land that is transferred by way of gift or inheritance during the period of transition from the Single Payment Scheme to the Basic Payment Scheme, the right to establish entitlements may also be transferred with that land. In the case of the sale or lease of land, the parties involved may enter into a Private Contract Clause whereby the entitlements are transferred from the owner of the land to the purchaser/lessee, either permanently or for the period of the lease. All such transfers should have been notified to the Department using either the 2015 Transfer of Allocation Right form or the Private Contract Clause form by the closing date of 29 May 2015. There are a number of other conditions relating to such transfers.
If a herdowner was prevented from submitting such an application prior to the closing date as a result of force majeure or exceptional circumstances, the person concerned should make direct contact with the Transfer/PCC Section of my Department at 0761 064430 in order to have the individual circumstances of their case examined.
476. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a case regarding installation aid to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry will be reviewed with a view to a payment being made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30457/15]
View answerThe person named lodged an application under the Scheme of Installation Aid on 5th October 2001. The application was incomplete and inaccurate and in November 2001 the applicant was asked to submit a fresh and valid application. The new application was submitted to the Department in January 2003. On 19th February 2004 the Department wrote to the applicant to advise him that the application was, again, incorrectly completed and asked him to amend and re-submit a revised SIA 3 form. The form was not re-submitted. In March 2005, representations were made to the then Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan TD, enquiring further into the matter. The Minister replied that the required application form was still outstanding and allowed the applicant a further opportunity to submit a correct version. However, the applicant did not avail of this opportunity.
As the deficiencies in the original application were never addressed and the scheme is closed since 2002 the application cannot be processed at this stage.
477. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when final allocations will be made under the flexi-milk scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30464/15]
View answerMy Department informed milk purchasers in the last week of August of their final allocation of unused quota available for distribution under the Flexi Milk Scheme. The total volume of the unused quota available for re-distribution nationally came to 8.7 million litres. The process of distribution, which must be done in accordance with rules issued by my Department, should now be complete and each milk producer should be aware of his or her final quota position for the 2014/2015 milk quota year.
478. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will confirm that an appeal has been received from a person (details supplied) in County Cork under the 2014 single payment scheme and the disadvantaged areas scheme; if he will expedite an oral hearing in this case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30465/15]
View answerThe Agriculture Appeals Office has confirmed that an appeal was received from the above mentioned on 9 July 2015. The appeal was acknowledged and a request was sent to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for the Department file and a statement on the issue. The Department file was received on 17 August 2015 and the appeal was assigned to an Appeals Officer. As an oral hearing has been requested in this case, the Appeals Office will be in direct contact with the appellant shortly to schedule the oral hearing.
479. Deputy Paul J. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if farmers who established an entitlement on their farm under the basic payment scheme in 2015 may continue to receive the payment if they lease their land before the end of 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30507/15]
View answerIn order to qualify for payment under the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme, the land parcels declared, must be available to the applicant for a period from either the start of the year until a date after 31st of May or from a date before 31st of May until the end of the year. In addition the land must be maintained as agricultural land for the 2015 calendar year.
480. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has received the final report from the Chief State Solicitor on the milk quota issue (details supplied). [30509/15]
View answerHaving regard to an opinion from the Chief State Solicitor's Office, and having considered all of the facts, the recommendation from my Department is that on balance, a prosecution is not warranted in this instance. All superlevies, due have been paid in full and there has been no financial loss either to the Exchequer, to farmers or to the EU.
481. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to add representation to the discard implementation group. [30510/15]
View answerTo facilitate the phasing in of the landing obligation under the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, I established a national Discards Implementation Group (DIG) under the Chairmanship of Dr. Noel Cawley. The remit of this Group is to advise me on issues arising in the effective implementation of the new policy and to recommend practical solutions and arrangements that take into account the situation of the Irish industry. The primary aim of the group is to ensure that the Irish fishing industry are fully prepared for, and engaged in, the practical implementation of the discards ban. It is the fishing industry alone that will be directly impacted by the implementation of the landing obligation and it is the individual vessel operators who will have to abide by the new rules as they are phased in and who will ensure that the landing obligation is operated successfully. It is for that reason that the Discards Implementation Group, chaired by Dr. Noel Cawley, is made up of fishing industry representatives and those who can provide expert advice such as the Marine Institute and Bord Iascaigh Mhara.
Consequently, I do not consider it necessary to add any further representation to the group as all those who have a direct role in implementing the landing obligation, are already represented at the DIG. I have provided that other organisations are kept updated on the Group's deliberations to date and this will remain the case.
