Written Answers Nos. 798-812
798. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the cost to his Department to date of all fines paid by Ireland for non-transposition of EU directives into Irish law; the breakdown, by directive of the lump sum cost and the daily cost of each fine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28604/20]
View answerMy Department has not been subject to any fines arising from the non-transposition of EU Directives into Irish law.
My Department has an effective monitoring system in place to ensure all Directives are transposed on time. In addition, my Department engages regularly with the European Commission and the Department of Foreign Affairs on issues that may arise with transposing EU Directives.
799. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of salaries, expenses and so on paid to members and employees of an organisation (details supplied) in each of the years 2016 to 2019 and to date in 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28717/20]
View answerRásíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ) is a commercial state body, established under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958 chiefly to control greyhound racing and to improve and develop the greyhound industry. RCÉ is a body corporate and a separate legal entity to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
I will ask RCÉ to revert, within ten working days, with the details requested, directly to the Deputy.
800. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has received an appeal from a person (details supplied) in County Cork regarding a breach of the nitrates regulations. [28726/20]
View answerMy Department has received correspondence from the person named seeking a review of a decision regarding a breach of the nitrates limits. The Department is currently considering this correspondence and a reply will issue to the person named shortly.
801. Deputy Brian Leddin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 896 of 22 September 2020, the date he proposes to have a veterinary presence on livestock consignments to third countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28748/20]
View answerThe Programme for Government commits the Government to “provide additional resources to monitor welfare standards, by increasing the veterinary presence available on all live export consignments to third countries”.
My Department is assessing implementation of this commitment and the possible additional actions required, whilst continuing to ensure appropriate inspection and oversight of these consignments and indeed also dealing with the practicalities of COVID-19 restrictions.
Livestock consignments to third countries are relatively infrequent events with 9 shipments in both 2018 and 2019 and 7 so far in 2020. Already this year, prior to COVID-19 restrictions, two third country shipments have been accompanied by Department veterinary inspectors.
To date, the feedback as regards the welfare, quality and health of the Irish cattle on these shipments has been positive. My Department will continue to evaluate and modify its export control systems as appropriate and necessary.
802. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details on any fish and shell fish quota swaps that the State has made with other EU States in each of the years 2010 to 2019 and to date in 2020; if he will provide the basis for these swaps; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28761/20]
View answerIf a member state does not have sufficient quota for a certain species, a quota swap can be agreed with another member state.
Ireland may seek an exchange of quota with another EU member state to cover a shortfall in quota (or effort) for a fish stock in an area for the year. Conversely, Ireland may receive a request from another EU member state for a quota swap. Each swap proposal is considered on a case-by-case basis by my Department taking into account the views and recommendation of the Quota Management Advisory Committee (QMAC), taking into account ratios and market prices to ensure all agreed swaps are equitable.
Quotas are swapped on a temporary basis but continuously repeated yearly exchange is also possible. Ireland has long established relationships with a number of EU member states where certain swaps are carried out on a yearly basis, provided Ireland has sufficient quota available for the stock for the area.
I attach details of fish and shell fish quota swaps that Ireland has made with other EU States in each of the years 2010 to 2019 and to date in 2020. Please note that reports on swaps that were carried out over the last four years (2016 - 2019) are available on the Department's website.
803. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the tonnage and value of the full annual catch of fish that has been registered as taken from Irish waters under the Common Fisheries Policy for each of the years 2000 to 2019, inclusive, and to date in 2020 including the nationality of the boats landing the catch. [28762/20]
View answerUnder the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), official landing statistics are reported by Member States by ICES division, rather than by Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and most ICES divisions straddle more than one EEZ area. However, landings are also reported by ICES rectangles - these are smaller sub-divisions of the sea area used for statistical analysis. While reports by ICES rectangles are not official landing declarations, they can be used to provide a reasonable estimate of the EEZ from which these landings were caught.
Landings data by ICES rectangles are available for Irish vessels for the period 2003 onwards. For other Member States, this information is not routinely available. However, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has collated and published international landings data by ICES rectangles for the period 2011 to 2016. A more recent dataset for the period 2015 to 2018 has also been made available however, due to GDPR concerns, the data is aggregated across all Member States, so it is not possible to provide a country-specific breakdown.
Based on the above data, the attached tables compiled by the Marine Institute set out the estimated weight (in tonnes of live weight) and approximate value (in millions of Euro) of landings from the Irish EEZ by Ireland and other Member States for the period 2011 to 2018. The figures for 2019 and preliminary figures for 2020 (1 January to 4 October 2020) for Ireland are also included.
Table 1. Estimated landings weight (tonnes of live weight) from the Irish EEZ
|
Year |
BEL |
DEU |
DNK |
ESP |
FRA |
IRL |
LTU |
NLD |
UK |
Total |
|
2011 |
1.153t |
27.958t |
2.422t |
39.828t |
29.185t |
128.966t |
0.000t |
51.893t |
41.189t |
322.594t |
|
2012 |
1.137t |
22.877t |
10.239t |
25.103t |
33.132t |
193.285t |
0.000t |
87.685t |
63.505t |
436.964t |
|
2013 |
0.936t |
29.569t |
13.780t |
25.938t |
46.917t |
163.126t |
0.000t |
70.969t |
44.577t |
395.812t |
|
2014 |
0.481t |
28.814t |
22.895t |
24.319t |
42.368t |
155.632t |
9.592t |
34.269t |
84.549t |
402.917t |
|
2015 |
0.391t |
22.177t |
5.397t |
22.925t |
46.545t |
144.946t |
5.260t |
47.154t |
78.322t |
373.117t |
|
2016 |
0.324t |
16.037t |
11.908t |
25.483t |
41.179t |
124.264t |
2.186t |
30.293t |
51.587t |
303.261t |
|
2017 |
118.059t |
375.235t |
||||||||
|
2018 |
133.469t |
405.221t |
||||||||
|
2019 |
134.740t |
|||||||||
|
2020* |
91.008t |
* 1 January – 4 October 2020
Table 2. Approximate landings value (millions of Euro) from the Irish EEZ
|
Year |
BEL |
DEU |
DNK |
ESP |
FRA |
IRL |
LTU |
NLD |
UK |
Total |
|
2011 |
€4M |
€19M |
€1M |
€83M |
€61M |
€145M |
€0M |
€32M |
€54M |
€399M |
|
2012 |
€4M |
€15M |
€3M |
€67M |
€70M |
€180M |
€0M |
€52M |
€72M |
€462M |
|
2013 |
€3M |
€19M |
€4M |
€66M |
€109M |
€160M |
€0M |
€41M |
€57M |
€458M |
|
2014 |
€1M |
€19M |
€13M |
€66M |
€99M |
€155M |
€5M |
€21M |
€88M |
€468M |
|
2015 |
€1M |
€14M |
€4M |
€64M |
€101M |
€162M |
€3M |
€28M |
€86M |
€464M |
|
2016 |
€1M |
€11M |
€7M |
€70M |
€102M |
€161M |
€1M |
€18M |
€65M |
€437M |
|
2017 |
€150M |
€357M |
||||||||
|
2018 |
€165M |
€374M |
||||||||
|
2019 |
€186M |
|||||||||
|
2020* |
€107M |
* 1 January – 4 October 2020
804. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason that none of his predecessors signed off on the equivalent of SI 318 of 2020 this year, before An Taoiseach did so on 26 August 2020. [28763/20]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, the 2009 EU Fisheries Control Regulation 1224//2009 and EU Commission Implementing Regulation 404/2011 introduced points systems for serious infringements of the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy committed inter alia by the licence holder of a fishing vessel. These are intended to complement sanctions and promote compliance and were required to be in place on 1st of January 2012. To this end, An Taoiseach, acting as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, signed into force the European Union (Common Fisheries Policy)(Point System) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 318 of 2020) on 26 August 2020.
Prior to that date in 2020, possible next steps in terms of fully meeting Ireland’s EU obligations in this matter were under consideration in the context of the unprecedented annulment of the European Union (Common Fisheries Policy) (Point System) Regulations 2018, S.I. No. 89 of 2018 and also the receipt by Ireland from the EU Commission of its related Reasoned Opinion in July 2020.
805. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the criteria on mileage and usage for vehicles that were used by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and then auctioned by Irish Machinery Auctions; the estimated amount that was raised by the sale of the vehicles and where the funds were allocated. [28783/20]
View answerAs this is an operational matter for the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), I have referred the Deputy's request to the SFPA for attention and direct reply.
806. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has engaged a third-party company in each of the years 2017 to 2019 and to date in 2020 to conduct online and or social media monitoring and or provide reports on social media coverage of his Department; if so, the cost of same; and if the name of the social media platforms being monitored will be provided. [28909/20]
View answerMy Department has not engaged a third party to provide reports on social media coverage of the Department.
Staff in my Department’s Communications Division manage and monitor the Department’s official social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
My Department engaged media monitoring services, including monitoring of print, broadcast and online news media, from Kantar Media and Truehawk Media during the period in question. The expenditure, excluding VAT, for this service was €9,253.51 in 2017, €13,791.44 in 2018, €21,701.37 in 2019 and €11,200 to date in 2020.
807. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of staff in his Department on sick leave between March and September by month in 2019 and to date 2020; the pay arrangements that exist for staff on sick leave for an extended period of time; the number of sick days accounted for by his Department over the period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28927/20]
View answerThe table below shows the number of staff in my Department that availed of sick leave between March and September, by month, in 2019 and 2020, as well as the number of days accounted for during this period.
|
MONTH |
YEAR |
No. of Staff on Sick Leave |
No. of Sick Leave Days |
|
January |
2019 |
436 |
3,325 |
|
2020 |
428 |
3,625 |
|
|
February |
2019 |
398 |
3,029 |
|
2020 |
364 |
3,091 |
|
|
March |
2019 |
330 |
3,062 |
|
2020 |
254 |
2,742 |
|
|
April |
2019 |
302 |
2,873 |
|
2020 |
100 |
1,787 |
|
|
May |
2019 |
296 |
2,791 |
|
2020 |
95 |
1,705 |
|
|
June |
2019 |
266 |
2,678 |
|
2020 |
95 |
1,522 |
|
|
July |
2019 |
280 |
2,722 |
|
2020 |
117 |
1,638 |
|
|
August |
2019 |
231 |
2,681 |
|
2020 |
121 |
1,701 |
|
|
September |
2019 |
319 |
2,869 |
|
2020 |
148 |
1,545 |
Pay arrangements that exist for staff on sick leave are dealt with under Circular 05/2018 - Arrangements for Paid Sick Leave. The main provisions of the regulations for extended periods of sick leave are as follows:
Limits for Sick Leave
- 92 days on full pay in a rolling 1 year period counting back from the day before the latest date of absence followed by 91 days on half pay subject to:
- A maximum of 183 days in a rolling 4 year period counting back from day before the latest date of absence.
Limits for Sick Leave Granted under the Critical Illness Protocol
- 183 days on full pay in a rolling 1 year period counting back from the day before latest date of absence followed by 182 days on half pay subject to:
- A maximum of 365 days in a rolling 4 year period counting back from the day before the latest date of absence.
Temporary Rehabilitation Remuneration
Regulation 6 of SI 124 of 2014 sets out the provisions for Temporary Rehabilitation Remuneration (TRR).
The conditions to be met before temporary rehabilitation remuneration can be paid are:
(a) the individual concerned must have the service required for an ill health retirement pension*; and
(b) there must be a reasonable prospect that the individual will be able to return to work and give regular and effective service.
Regulation 6 also provides that the rate of pay of temporary rehabilitation remuneration is the same as the rate of pension that the individual would be paid if they were to be ill-health retired.
The following limits apply for payment of TRR:
Ordinary sick leave: 547 days on TRR in a rolling 4 year period
Critical Illness Provisions: 365 days on TRR in a rolling 4 year period with a provision to extend for a further 2 years subject to 6 monthly reviews.
*An ill health retirement pension is a pension that may be paid to an individual where he or she retires on health grounds.
808. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of emergency funding provided to community projects since March 2020, by name of the project, sector and type of funding in tabular form. [28284/20]
View answer809. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of emergency funding provided to social inclusion projects since March 2020, in tabular form. [28285/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 808 and 809 together.
I understand that the emergency funding referred toby the Deputy relates to the COVID 19 Stability Fund which provided up to €35 million from the Dormant Accounts Fund to organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector and Social Enterprises. The Fund was intended to provide a targeted, once-off, cash injection for organisations and groups currently delivering critical front-line services to the most at need in our society and in danger of imminent closure due to lost fund-raised or traded income as a direct result of restrictions to counter the spread of COVID-19. The criteria of the scheme stated that any grants awarded would be dependent on the need identified and organisations approved for funding were prioritised on that basis.
My Department received 1,060 applications during the application periods. To date, four tranches of successful applications have been announced, allocating funding of €30,073,923 to 568 organisations. This funding is now supporting the delivery of many critical front line services in every part of the country. Though the fund is now closed to new applications, additional checks are continuing on a small number of applications and remaining outcomes will be communicated on an individual basis.
Lists of successful applicants are available on my Department’s website at www.gov.ie/en/publication/3957e-covid-19-stability-fund-successful-applicants/.
A full list of all allocations in tabular form is attached with the information requested by the Deputy.
810. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of the €1 billion Rural Regeneration and Development Fund that has been drawn down; and if she will provide the commitment in each year to date in tabular form. [28128/20]
View answer811. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of the €1 billion Rural Regeneration and Development Fund that has been committed for 2021. [28129/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 810 and 811 together.
Arising from the first and second calls under this scheme, 63 Category 1 projects have been approved for funding of €131 million and 76 Category 2 projects have been approved for funding of €35 million. Category 1 relates to major projects that can drive sustainable rural regeneration and development, while Category 2 supports projects that require development funding to bring projects to a stage where they are ready to apply under Category 1 calls.
To date, €38 million has been drawn down for approved Category 1 and Category projects.
The yearly allocations for Category 1 and Category 2 projects is set out below:
|
Year |
Allocation |
|
2019 |
€52m |
|
2020 |
€53m |
The allocation for 2021 will be confirmed as part of the annual budgetary process.
As signalled in the National Development Plan 2018-2027, the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund has since integrated the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and the Outdoor Recreational Infrastructure Scheme as part of its overall funding allocation, though these schemes continue to be delivered on a standalone basis, with separate application and appraisal processes.
812. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when decisions will be made under the town and village accelerated measures round 3 scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28567/20]
View answerThis year’s Town and Village Renewal Scheme has been tailored to assist our rural towns and villages to respond to the challenges presented by COVID-19.
In addition to the usual project funding under the scheme, this year the scheme includes an Accelerated Measure which enables towns and villages to adapt to COVID-19 and to introduce initiatives immediately to support increased footfall and enable people to shop and socialise safely in accordance with public health guidelines.
Successful projects under Round 1 and Round 2 of the Accelerated Measure have already been announced, with a total of €6.1 million being approved for 226 projects.
The assessment of applications under Round 3 is currently being finalised and I expect to be in a position to announce the successful applications shortly.
