Written Answers Nos. 212-220
212. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will request that an up-to-date report on deer management in the Wicklow mountains is carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29996/21]
View answerThe management and control of deer populations is a matter for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
In 2015, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, together with the Department of Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht, which at the time was the parent Department of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), published "Deer Management in Ireland – A Framework for Action" which recommends a series of actions on deer management and conservation in a number of areas, including addressing the impact of deer in places where they are abundant. The Irish Deer Management Forum was established to implement the various actions listed in the Report.
The Department and the NPWS as joint contracting authorities signed a three-year contract with the Wicklow Uplands Council in August 2018 for deer management services in the Co. Wicklow region. The overall objective of this pilot project is to test good practice in deer management in the Wicklow region, with a long-term aim that project results could be replicated in other regions in the State.
Several Deer Management Units have been established as part of this contract. These units are in charge of implementing agreed deer management plans in accordance with approved standards in their respective areas. The contractors are collecting data and establish baseline data on damage levels caused by deer as part of the project’s workplan.
The Department also introduced a Deer Fencing and Tree Shelter Scheme to protect forests from predation by deer in 2018 as deer can cause serious damage to trees, particularly in native woodlands.
213. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount his Department spent on maintenance and development in the six fishery harbour centres (details supplied) maintaining the range of piers, lights and beacons around the coast in accordance with the 1902 ex-congested Districts Board Piers, Lights and Beacons Act; and the amounts disbursed to the local authorities for small-scale development and repair of local authority owned piers, harbours and slipways under the Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programmes in the past two years for which figures are available. [29998/21]
View answerAs the Deputy notes, funding is made available on an annual basis by the Department to the Fishery Harbour Centres through the Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme.
In addition, the Department provides funding for repairs to a small number of piers, lights and beacons around the coast in accordance with the 1902 ex-congested Districts Board Piers, Lights and Beacons Act.
The responsibility for the development and maintenance of Local Authority owned piers, harbours and slipways rests with each Local Authority in the first instance and their parent Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage thereafter. However, the Department has, as part of its annual Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme, provided limited funding to assist coastal Local Authorities in carrying out small scale projects for the development and repair of piers, harbours and slipways in their ownership.
The attached table provides the details requested by the Deputy. In addition, I recently announced a capital investment package of €38.3 million for the 2021 Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme. Details of this funding are also provided in the attached table.
214. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the figures for fish landed into the six fishery harbour centres; and the amount of fish landed into all the local authority harbours in the past two years for which figures are available. [29999/21]
View answerThe Department owns, operates and maintains six designated State-owned Fishery Harbour Centres, located at Castletownbere, Dingle, Dunmore East, Howth, Killybegs and Ros An Mhíl under statute. The Department became responsible for the Fishery Harbour Centres in October 2007. The Fishery Harbour Centres were established under the Fishery Harbour Centre Act 1968 (as amended) as centres in which to promote and develop sea fishing activities.
The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) was established under the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Act 2006 and is responsible (in conjunction with the Irish Naval Service) for the control and enforcement of Fisheries legislation. In this regard, the SFPA is the single legal competent authority responsible for the collection and reporting of fish landings into Ireland.
The figures in the attached tables provide the tonnes and value of fish landed at the Fishery Harbour Centres for the years 2018-2019 and is sourced from the SFPA. 2019 is the latest year figures are available.
The total value and volume of fish landed into Irish ports in 2018 and 2019 amounts to 316,851 tonnes and €342,635,195 in 2018 and 314,987 tonnes and €340,115,480 in 2019. I would advise the Deputy to contact the SFPA for full details of non-Fishery Harbour Centre fish landings in the years in question.
215. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide for the records of the Land Commission now held by his Department to be digitised prior to any further degradation given the condition of many of the records; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30075/21]
View answerThe Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine currently has no immediate plans to digitise all of the eight million plus Land Commission records held by the Department. Digitisation of records on such a vast scale is not considered feasible at this stage having regard to both the form and condition of many of the records held and given the sheer scale of such an operation.
However, the Department is examining the possibility of digitising certain key search aids which will enable electronic searches to be carried out by members of the public in order to ascertain if specific records exist. This work is at an early stage and a process of internal consultation between the relevant divisions is taking place. Officials have also been in contact with external bodies undertaking similar projects to learn from their experience.
The Department has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Trinity College Dublin in relation to the Beyond 2022 Project which has undertaken an initial scoping of the pre-1922 Irish Land Commission records. That project is working to recreate the records lost in the destruction of the Public Records Office of Ireland at the Four Courts in 1922.
216. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the manner in which Land Commission records are currently held; if his Department has sourced expertise from within or without Government to minimise any further degradation of records; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30076/21]
View answerThe records of the former Irish Land Commission are stored in a modern facility in Portlaoise. The warehouse is climate controlled to ensure that conditions are optimal for the storage of paper records.
In 2019, a major project to upgrade the map storage and filing system was completed. Currently,staff are engaged in a long term project to transfer Land Commission documents from their original storage boxes into modern, fireproof storage boxes. In many cases, records were still stored in their original metal boxes which over time had become damaged through handling and presented a risk to the documents within them and to staff handling them.
On appointment, Records Branch staff receive on the job training in document retrieval and handling from experienced officials. In recent years, policies have been introduced to reduce unnecessary handling of documents by restricting access to Department staff only.
Currently, the Department has not engaged external experts to assist with this process.
217. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will extend the deadline with regard to the sowing of seeds for the wild bird cover action of GLAS in view of conditions preventing same from being carried out by the 1 June 2021 deadline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30077/21]
View answerIt is open to individual GLAS participants to contact the Department directly to request an extension in relation to the planting requirements for the GLAS Wild Bird Cover action for this year.
Requests will be examined on a case-by-case basis. GLAS Division can be contacted by email at glas@agriculture.gov.ie.
218. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the details of the Volunteering Strategy Implementation Group; the membership of the committee; the number of meetings held to date; the membership and work of the sub-committees of the Volunteering Strategy Implementation Group; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30130/21]
View answerFollowing the launch of the first National Volunteering Strategy 2021-2025 in December last, my Department established an Implementation Group to oversee the delivery of the 56 actions outlined in the Strategy.
Chaired by the Department of Rural and Community Development, the membership of the Implementation Group is as follows:
|
Government Departments - |
|
Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth |
|
Education |
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Enterprise Trade and Employment |
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Foreign Affairs |
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Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science |
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Social Protection |
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Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media |
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State Agencies - |
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An Garda Síochána |
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Sports Ireland |
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Volunteer management and involving organisations - |
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ALONE |
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Volunteer Centre Manager Network |
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Volunteer Ireland |
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The Wheel |
In addition to the above, there are three seats on the Implementation Group which were filled by Expression of Interest to represent -
Academic Interests: NUI Galway, and
Volunteering Sector Interests: Gaisce and Ability West.
While the work of the Implementation Group is still at an early stage, five sub-groups have been established. These sub-groups will assist with the delivery of the actions on a thematic basis. They are:
Communication Awareness and Recognition Sub-Group: To raise awareness and educate the public, to encourage the diversification of the volunteering population and support the appropriate recognition of those who already volunteer.
Volunteer Research Sub-Group: To facilitate the completion of appropriate research to support the implementation of the Strategy in a knowledge-based manner, to recognise the value of the skills developed by volunteers, and to appreciate the full impact of volunteering in Ireland.
IT Development Sub-Group : To support the development and cohesion of the IT infrastructure underpinning the volunteering sector for the benefit of the professionals using the systems and individuals seeking new opportunities.
Volunteer Management & Capacity Building Sub-Group : To support and build capacity in Volunteer Centres, volunteer involving organisations and amongst volunteers to provide an enjoyable and worthwhile experience for organisations and individuals, including through the introduction of new, more flexible and tailored volunteering opportunities.
International Volunteering Sub-Group: To support the development of sustainable and appropriate international volunteering opportunities.
Additional stakeholders may be asked to assist the work of the sub-groups as required.
There has been one meeting of the National Volunteering Implementation Group since its establishment in March 2021, and work has also commenced at subgroup level with at least one meeting of each subgroup held to date. The Group is working together with my Department to develop an implementation plan and to commence delivering the actions in a planned and coherent manner over the coming months.
219. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of funding allocated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to support young persons under the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme in tabular form. [30131/21]
View answer220. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of young persons aged under 25 years of age who were beneficiaries under the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme in 2019 and 2020. [30132/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 219 and 220 together.
The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) 2018 – 2022 aims to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion and equality by supporting disadvantaged communities and individuals.
SICAP has 2 programme goals. Goal one is supporting communities, which involves supporting local community groups representing disadvantaged communities and target groups so that they can work towards solving social exclusion issues that affect them. Goal two involves supporting individuals who have been identified as being in need to improve their life chances. This can be through lifelong learning and training, getting labour market supports to improve work readiness, or working with people in broader and more holistic ways so that they can improve their quality of life and general well-being.
In 2019 and 2020 SICAP supported young people aged under 25 years of age under both programme goals. SICAP also provided supports to children and families to support education and personal development and to prevent early school leaving. The below table provides further information.
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Beneficiary |
2019 |
2020 |
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Number of Local Community Groups (Goal 1) with disadvantaged young people as the primary target group |
121(5% of total Goal 1 caseload) |
117(4% of total Goal 1 caseload) |
|
Number of Individuals (Goal 2) aged 15-24 years |
5,440(18% of total Goal 2 caseload) |
4,479(17% of total Goal 2 caseload) |
|
Number of Children participating in Children & Families activities |
35,249 |
30,057 |
Under SICAP, funding is provided Local Development Companies to allow them to carry out work locally to help disadvantaged individuals and the groups that represent those individuals. The programme is managed by the Local Community Development Committee (LCDCs) in each Local Authority area.
The total amount of funding allocated for SICAP in 2019, 2020 and 2021 is provided below. However, the allocations were not further subdivided by age category. Instead the Local Development Company and the LCDC in each area are given the flexibility to carry out work as needed in their area.
|
Year |
Total Annual Amount |
|
2019 |
€38,027,601 |
|
2020 |
€39,168,430 |
|
2021 |
€39,168,430 |
