Barry Cowen
Question:213. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health the status of a hospital appointment for a person (details supplied). [21601/16]
View answerHospital Appointments Status
Questions (213)
Written answers
Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual.
The scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she should take the matter up with the consultant and the hospital involved. In relation to the specific case raised, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.
Health Care Policy
Questions (214)
Clare Daly
Question:214. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health if he will direct his officials to attend the International Congress for Integrative Health and Medicine in Berlin, Germany in 2017; if it would be of educational benefit for his officials to attend, given that none of his officials attended the International Congress for Integrative Health and Medicine in Stuttgart, Germany in May 2016, which was attended by representatives of 40 other countries. [21648/16]
View answerWritten answers
The Department of Health engages with a range of international fora on an ongoing basis. The purpose of this engagement is to promote and protect Ireland’s interests on health policy and related matters, and to benefit from the expertise and best practice available internationally. All invitations to attend events abroad are given careful consideration, taking into account competing work pressures and resource constraints.
Health Services Staff Recruitment
Questions (215)
Joan Burton
Question:215. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Health the number of new recruits to the health sector in each of the years 2011 to 2013; the number of whole-time equivalent recruits. [21977/16]
View answerWritten answers
I have asked that the HSE respond to you directly on the aspect of the question that relates to their public sector employees. In relation to Non-Commercial State Agencies under the remit of the Department, this information is being sought and will be forwarded to the Deputy when collated.
Fishing Industry
Questions (216)
Mick Barry
Question:216. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of detections made of undocumented non-European Union migrant fishing crews in Irish ports in 2016; and the number of prosecutions ensued thereafter. [21496/16]
View answerWritten answers
Immediately following the publication of claims of possible exploitation of undocumented migrant workers on Irish fishing trawlers in the Guardian newspaper, an interdepartmental task force was established by the Government to examine the specific issues identified in the newspaper report and to make recommendations on appropriate actions. Reflecting the complexities of the issues raised and the existing work ongoing concerning migrant workers across a number of sectors, the task force consisted of high level representatives from the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation; Justice and Equality; Transport, Tourism and Sport; Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Social Protection; Defence; the Workplace Relations Commission; the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service; the Marine Survey Office; the Health and Safety Authority; the Revenue Commissioners; the Attorney General’s Office; An Garda Síochána; BIM; the Naval Service and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.
The report of the Government’s interdepartmental Task Force on Non-EEA Workers in the Irish Fishing Industry recommended the establishment of a sector-specific Atypical Worker Permission system which will provide a structured and transparent framework for the employment of non-EEA workers within defined segments of the Irish commercial sea-fishing fleet.
The Atypical Working Scheme is administered by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service of the Department of Justice and Equality. My Department’s role relates solely to hosting the Central Depository, the purpose of which is to register the contracts and supporting documentation under the Scheme in order to ensure that the cap of 500 is not exceeded.
In order to promote effective monitoring and enforcement of the Scheme, the Task Force also recommended that a Memorandum of Understanding be put in place by the relevant State enforcement bodies. The Department of Employment, Jobs and Innovation has the lead role in this group. My Department does not have a role in enforcement of employment or immigration law and is a party to the MOU only in so far as the Central Depository is concerned.
Livestock Issues
Questions (217)
Mick Barry
Question:217. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine following the discovery of the use of angel dust in a herd in the County Monaghan area, if sufficient safeguards are in place to ensure that growth hormones do not enter food for human consumption; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21497/16]
View answerWritten answers
My Department oversees the implementation of Ireland’s National Residue Control Programme. This is an extensive surveillance programme aimed at detecting and preventing entry into the food chain for human consumption of food products containing banned substances, such as growth-promoting hormones and residues of authorised veterinary medicines, approved animal feed additives and environmental contaminants in food of animal origin. The plan, which is approved each year by the European Commission, tests in the region of 19,000 samples per annum. This includes approximately 3,500 samples for a full range of growth promoting substances, including the substance clenbuterol (sometimes referred to as Angel Dust). Samples are taken both on-farm and at slaughter plants.
As the Deputy is aware, as part of routine testing at farm level under the National Residue Control Programme, a bovine sample taken from a farm in Co. Monaghan tested positive for clenbuterol. Subsequently twenty-seven further animals on the holding, representing a portion of the overall herd, were found to have positive results and were destroyed. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland is fully aware of this investigation and has concluded that there is no risk to public health arising thereof.
I would emphasise that this is the only confirmed positive case of clenbuterol in Ireland since 2011 and that the last previous case was in 1999.
I am satisfied that the detection of clenbuterol in this case confirms the effectiveness of the National Residue Control Programme which is designed to provide safeguards and reassurance of high quality food both to domestic consumers and to our European and international trading partners. The range of testing conducted in Ireland exceeds European legislative requirements and the testing itself is carried out at state of the art laboratories capable of testing for the presence of substances at extremely low levels. Notwithstanding this, and in an effort to provide further reassurance on the issue, my Department will undertake a special project of testing for clenbuterol in addition to the targets already set out in the National Residue Plan.
Farm Household Incomes
Questions (218)
Mick Barry
Question:218. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in reference to comments made by the German Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Sigmar Gabriel, following the United Kingdom vote to leave the European Union, the measures he will take to protect the incomes of small farmers and investment in rural communities should the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy be reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21498/16]
View answerWritten answers
I have indicated on a number of occasions since the UK referendum that one of the areas in which issues are raised from an agriculture perspective is the effect on the EU budget. The UK decision to leave the EU will result in a loss of the UK contribution to the EU budget of between 5 and 10%. This could have implications for future spending decisions in what is already a very tight budgetary framework, where CAP accounts for some 37% of the EU budget. The comments of Vice Chancellor Gabriel could perhaps be considered an early manifestation of that pressure.
However, there remains a very long road to travel on this issue. In terms of the current budgetary framework, allocations to Member States in respect of the period up to 2020 are set out in Regulations of the European Parliament and of the Council. Any changes to these allocations would require new regulations agreed by both institutions, a process which, if even considered, would be likely to take a considerable period of time.
Alternatively, the contributions of the twenty seven remaining Member States to the budget could be increased in order to ensure that the level of expenditure across all headings is maintained.
Again, it is too early to speculate on the likely outcome, and we must also bear in mind that much will depend on the progress of the exit negotiations between the EU and the UK, a process that may not even commence for some time yet.
More generally, I will of course continue to ensure that agriculture’s voice is a strong one and is fully taken into account during the mid-term review of the current Multiannual Financial Framework, and in the negotiations for the new, post-2020 Framework which are expected to commence in 2018. This will be based on the principle that the Common Agricultural Policy makes an important contribution to the achievement of EU priorities in the area of jobs and growth, particularly in rural areas, and should continue to attract the commensurate funding to ensure that this contribution is maintained.
Fishing Industry
Questions (219)
Mick Barry
Question:219. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine subsequent to the establishment of the atypical worker permission mechanism, established to allow the owners of Irish fishing vessels regularise the status of undocumented non-European Union migrant crew, if he has received any representations seeking to increase the number of permits available beyond 500 or any other amendment to the scheme; and if so, to provide details of same. [21499/16]
View answerWritten answers
Immediately following the publication of claims of possible exploitation of undocumented migrant workers on Irish fishing trawlers in The Guardian newspaper, an interdepartmental task force was established by the Government to examine the specific issues identified in the newspaper report and to make recommendations on appropriate actions. Reflecting the complexities of the issues raised and the existing work ongoing concerning migrant workers across a number of sectors, the task force consisted of high level representatives from the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation; Justice and Equality; Transport, Tourism and Sport; Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Social Protection; Defence; the Workplace Relations Commission; the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service; the Marine Survey Office; the Health and Safety Authority; the Revenue Commissioners; the Attorney General’s Office; An Garda Síochána; BIM; the Naval Service and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.
The report of the Government’s interdepartmental Task Force on Non-EEA Workers in the Irish Fishing Industry recommended the establishment of a sector-specific Atypical Worker Permission system which will provide a structured and transparent framework for the employment of non-EEA workers within defined segments of the Irish commercial sea-fishing fleet.
The Atypical Working Scheme is administered by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service of the Department of Justice and Equality. My Department’s role relates solely to hosting the Central Depository for the purpose of registering the contracts and supporting documentation under the Scheme in order to ensure that the cap of 500 is not exceeded. I have been informed by the Irish Naturalisation & Immigration Service, that it has granted to date Atypical Worker Permissions to 131 applicants. My Department has not received representations seeking to increase the number of permits available beyond 500
The Task Force recognises the importance of employment in the fishing industry to Ireland’s coastal communities. Therefore, in recommending that the number of Atypical Worker Permissions under the new Scheme, which applies to non-officers, be capped at 500, the Task Force was cognisant that any mechanism designed to assist with the employment of non-EEA workers should not impact unduly on the employment of local populations in coastal communities. The Task Force based the cap on employment data from the Marine Survey Office and BIM and took account of the longstanding sea-fishing boat licence condition that at least 50% of the crew on Irish fishing vessels are EU nationals.
The Task Force recommended that, during the first three months, the Scheme should be open to existing crew members only. My Department received a request to extend this three month window. I understand that the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, which administers the Scheme, extended this window to 30th June 2016. From 1st July 2016, all non-EEA workers intending to work in the fishing industry must first obtain an Atypical Worker Permission from INIS and Visa clearance, if applicable, prior to entering the State.
Beef Exports
Questions (220)
Pat Deering
Question:220. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of his efforts in gaining market access for Irish beef in the United States of America; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21377/16]
View answerWritten answers
I was delighted to announce last week the decision of the US authorities to extend their approval for Irish beef to include manufacturing beef/beef intended for grinding (BIFG). This marks the culmination of over a year of intensive work between my Department and its US counterparts on a range of technical matters. The new US decision paves the way for industry to undertake the steps necessary for trade to commence. In relation to market access for the USA, Ireland had initially received a major reputational boost in 2015 as the first EU Member State to gain access to the US market for beef and six plants are currently approved to export. By the end of December 2015 approximately 1,800 tonnes of beef, with an estimated value of €14 million, had been exported from Ireland to the US. This represents an exceptionally strong start to this trade considering that the first exports only went in March 2015 and some of the plants were only approved for export in September. That amount looks likely to be surpassed in 2016, as by the end of June, almost 1,200 tonnes had been exported.
The recent announcement by the US on our enhanced access is a huge endorsement of Irish beef and our production and regulatory systems. Ultimately the volume and value of trade will depend on a range of factors such as currency exchange rates, relative commodity prices and global supply and demand patterns. However, this recent extension of our access in the US has the capability to be a significant boost to the sector over a period of time.
US consumption of beef is estimated at 11 million tonnes, approximately 1 million of which is imported. The potential prize for Irish operators is therefore, subject to the variables already outlined, very significant, particularly in circumstances where grass fed hormone free beef is gaining traction in the market place.
It complements the other market outlets we have secured in the last two years, the development of which is a key element of our Food Wise 2025 strategy. There has also been significant progress in facilitating trade in other international markets for Irish beef. My Department continues to push strongly for market access to other Third Countries and we are currently in the process of trying to secure beef access to other third countries, including China, Korea, Israel, Ukraine and Vietnam. It is my intention to continue to focus on developing as many third country markets as possible in order to provide exporters as many commercial opportunities as possible in a competitive global market place.
Live Exports
Questions (221)
Pat Deering
Question:221. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his progress in achieving market access to Turkey for Irish live exports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21378/16]
View answerWritten answers
On 13th June 2016 Ireland was added to the list of Countries approved to export live cattle to Turkey. The market was opened following a period of detailed engagement by DAFM with the Turkish authorities, which culminated in a visit to Ireland by a Turkish Veterinary team in May 2016. A Veterinary Certificate allowing live exports of cattle from Ireland to Turkey is now in place in relation to cattle for breeding, fattening and slaughter.