Written Answers Nos. 435-444
435. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has availed of services and-or consultancy from a list of related companies (details supplied) in the past five years to date; if so, if he will provide a schedule of costs and the purpose for which the company was engaged; and if he continued to use services provided by it. [3774/24]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the information requested is set out in the table below.
|
Year |
Purpose of Services/Consultancy Engagement |
Services still in use Yes/No |
Cost € |
|
Cost Benefit Analysis TB Eradication programme |
No |
68,782 |
|
|
On Farm Market Valuation Review |
No |
92,250 |
|
|
A summary of competition law issues as relevant to the sector. |
No |
35,682 |
|
|
2020 |
An independent review of market and customer requirements, specifically in relation to the four in-spec bonus criteria currently in operation. |
No |
35,682 |
|
Cost Benefit Analysis TB Eradication programme |
No |
36,881 |
|
|
An independent examination of the price composition of the total value of the animal, including the fifth quarter, along the supply chain. |
No |
46,803 |
|
|
2021 |
Mink Farming Compensation Scheme Consultancy |
No |
98,031 |
|
2022 |
Mink Farming Compensation Scheme Consultancy |
No |
62,791 |
|
2022/2023/2024 |
Organisational Review of the three Forestry Divisions. |
Yes |
112,545 |
436. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will advise on the provision of grant support for machinery for a type of farming (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3813/24]
View answerThe Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) provides grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings, and all investments must be linked to climate, environmental or animal welfare improvements.
There are currently no investments available under TAMS 3 specific to hemp processing for commercial purposes.
The list of investment items continues to be reviewed on a regular basis. The inclusion of further investment categories will be dependent on the availability of the required funding under the TAMS 3 schemes.
437. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will advise on the development of a framework for carbon farming including focus on carbon sequestration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3814/24]
View answerCarbon Farming is a potential enabler in assisting the agricultural and land use sectors in meeting Ireland’s climate targets as set out in its most recent Climate Action Plan (2024) as well as providing a potential new income stream for farmers in the future.
My Department held a public consultation in September 2023 on Carbon Farming and positive feedback was received from stakeholders regarding the opportunity to diversify farm income. Stakeholders were supportive of an approach that included carbon removal, greenhouse gas reductions and biodiversity measures in a National Carbon Farming Framework. Furthermore, stakeholders considered it important that the Framework supports and compliments the environmental measures within the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027.
In parallel with the public consultation, I established the Carbon Farming Working Group to oversee the development of the Framework. Key areas of focus include identifying existing knowledge relevant to the establishment of baseline data, making recommendations for pathways to address knowledge gaps, assessing future auditing requirements including the Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of carbon removals/reductions, the development of voluntary carbon codes and the identification of best practice governance structures.
Nationally, there are knowledge and data gaps that will need to be bridged to support carbon farming and that is why I have identified and funded a number of key research and demonstration activities that will also help to provide baseline information on key activities within the agricultural and land use sectors. By way of example, Teagasc have recently launched a country wide network of Signpost Farms to showcase how best practice management techniques can be adopted on a wide range of enterprises and soil types.
A National Carbon Farming Framework is a necessary first step to support our farmers/land managers in the areas of carbon removal, emission reductions, and ecosystem services. In the meantime, I will continue to provide financial support for farmers providing eco system services through a variety of EU and nationally funded schemes.
To support the development of a National Carbon Farming Framework, my Department is working with EIT Climate KIC on a Flagship project on ‘Valorisation of Ecosystem Services’.
438. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) will receive their young farmer top-up payment. [3818/24]
View answerThe person named submitted applications to the 2023 Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers scheme and the young farmer category of the 2023 National Reserve as the young farmer in a Registered Farm Partnership.
The application to the 2023 National Reserve was successful, and approval and payment based on the successful application issued in mid-December 2023. Processing of the 2023 Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers scheme application is ongoing as there are some remaining eligibility and verification checks to be carried out.
A member of staff of my Department will be in direct contact with the person named where there is further information required regarding the application.
439. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when an organic payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3844/24]
View answerAdvance payments to organic farmers commenced on 7th December 2023. To date, approximately 90% of Organic Farming Scheme participants have received advance payments. DAFM is working to finalise payments for the remaining 10% of participants. The majority of these payments, including for this case, will issue within the next 8 weeks.
440. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 1252 of 17 January 2024, if he could consider the request therein and restated in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3888/24]
View answerI note that, further to my previous response, the question now being asked is whether further funding will be made available to allow all applicants to Tranche 2 to be accepted into ACRES.
As previously stated, €1.5 billion has been committed over the lifetime of the Scheme. A balance must be considered in allocating this funding, between accepting the appropriate number of applicants and ensuring the appropriate compensation is available for the applicants who carry out the measures as required under the Scheme. An independently verified costing exercise was carried out which calculated the payment levels. Using these levels of payment, it was determined that the maximum number of applicants that could be accepted into the scheme was 50,000.
I encouraged all interested farmers to apply for Tranche 1 and, following discussions with relevant stakeholders, I was able to announce that all 46,000 eligible applicants would be accepted.
This means that the budget will allow for in the region of 4,000 places to be taken up in Tranche 2. The application window has now closed, and eligibility checks will be carried out on the applications received. Following this, all eligible applications will be ranked and selected to determine which are successful. All applicants will be notified of their outcome in writing. There are currently no plans to increase the total number of contracts approved under ACRES Tranche 2 beyond what has already been stated.
441. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a farm payment appeal by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3891/24]
View answerThe Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) aims to provide support to beef farmers to improve the environmental sustainability of the national beef herd. The programme aims to build on the gains delivered in recent years through the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme (BEEP) by improving the genetic merit of the Irish suckler herd.
As stated under section 11 ‘Payments under the Programme’ of the Terms and Conditions of SCEP, in order to avail of the full payment, an applicant must have at least enough determined eligible forage hectares under their BISS application each year to match their Maximum Payable Area (MPA). If the determined eligible forage area is less than the MPA but 80% or above, the payment will be based on this eligible forage area.
If the determined eligible forage hectares in any year is less than 80% of the maximum payable area selected by SCEP participants, the participant can continue participation in SCEP, but will not be paid for the year that the determined eligible forage hectares is less than 80% of the MPA.
A SCEP application was received on behalf of the person named with a programme reference number and a 2023 yearly reference number of 37 with an MPA of 24.67 declared on the application. As the person named did not have enough determined eligible forage hectares on their BISS application to meet the minimum amount required to be eligible for payment, no payment is due under SCEP in respect of scheme year 1 of the programme.
A request for review was received on behalf of the person named on 23 January 2024, a letter issued to the person named on 24 January 2024 informing him of the outcome and of the next steps he can take if he so wishes.
442. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) will receive their ACRES payment. [3902/24]
View answerThe person named was approved into Tranche 1 of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), with a contract commencement date of 1 January 2023.
ACRES payments commenced on December 15th for ACRES General cases that had, at that point, cleared the scheme payment validations. Due to the unprecedented number of applications approved under Tranche 1, it was not possible to get all participants paid by the 2023 year-end.
As is the case with all EU co-funded schemes, all ACRES applications must pass regulatory controls and validations before payment can issue.
Cases not paid in the December pay run are currently being validated against scheme requirements, and my Department continues to work to expedite such payments. The case in question is one of a batch of outstanding cases still being processed, and payment will be made once all payment validations are cleared.
443. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has engaged with the Minister for Finance regarding concerns from farmers about taxation following receipt of two ACRES payments in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3967/24]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that taxation policy is primarily the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Finance and that the Office of the Revenue Commissioners has responsibility for the operation of the taxation system.
However, my Department does engage on taxation issues relating to the agri-food sector with a view to supporting Government policy in this regard.
In this context, there is a system for income averaging for farmers and further information can be found at www.revenue.ie. This is an important agri-taxation measure and it assists in addressing income volatility in allowing farmers to pay tax based on the average of five years’ farming profits and losses.
444. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of persons who attended each race night event throughout December 2023 at Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium; and if he will provide same figures for December 2022, in tabular form. [4082/24]
View answerRásaíocht 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.
The question raised by the Deputy is an operational matter for RCÉ and, therefore, the question has been referred to the body for direct reply.
