The electricians completing those forms must provide those details. That is the position.

Any PV installer included on my Department's solar PV registered installer list is required to submit a completed solar PV installer registration form as well as an up-to-date certificate of public insurance or employer's liability. As already stated, it is also a requirement that the electrician has completed the training courses in solar PV implementation as well as those relating to electrical installation of microgenerators. That is the position, but I know this is something on which the Deputy has engaged with…

The position is that any electrician completing the prescribed form must provide details confirming they are currently registered with Safe Electric Ireland. I would like to facilitate a further meeting between Deputy Stanton and my own officials. If there is any level of confusion here, I want to make sure it is addressed. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and for digging into it. However, the position is that they must provide those details. I am happy to facilitate a further meeting to discuss the matte…

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this issue. I will take the opportunity to briefly address the "RTÉ Investigates" programme that aired last night. The scenes we saw on the programme were shocking and appalling. The mistreatment of horses that we saw was absolutely unacceptable. We have strict laws in this country in relation to the welfare of animals as well as the traceability of animals. It was very distressing to watch that. My Department is already working with the gardaí investigating those particular in…

There have been significant actions in the past ten years to improve the traceability and identification of horses. In 2014, the central equine database was introduced. Prior to that, microchipping was introduced. More recently, since 2021 an annual horse census takes place and their places of residence must be registered with the Department too. There has been an online portal since last year where any member of the public can check a horse microchip and see the full record of the horse. We are also progressing e-…

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for his commitment to this issue and to improving it, taking it forward and for being proactive in producing legislation to help address and contribute to this area. We are reviewing the control of horses legislation with the objective of ensuring enforcement is as strong as it possibly can be. I am happy to engage with the Deputy on his ideas on that and the proposals in his Bill to see how it can be considered in that context. I thank Deputy O’Sullivan for raising it today and for his on…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 55 together. A key instrument of my Department’s funding of research is the thematic research call, to which the Deputy referred, which is typically run every second year. I launched the 2023 call in March last year, with the aim of funding pioneering research in areas such as climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and water quality, sustainable farming, animal health and welfare, social sustainability, the bioeconomy, agri-digitalisation and safe, healthy and sustai…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. There is significant potential here, and we do have to invest in new research. That is why we have the thematic research calls and why precision fermentation is one of the areas which is open for application. We will continue to invest, not only in the precision fermentation area but right across new and emerging science in the agrifood sector. It is open to people to apply as we try to bring these forward. Many exciting projects are taking place or are in the offing. On the dai…

I thank Deputy Ó Cathasaigh for raising the matter. The reason our food industry is so successful and is such a large part of our economy is because we have stayed at the cutting edge of research and added value. That is why we have the research funding in place through my Department. We are open to all applications on how we can progress and delve further into the scientific potential and new technologies. We will remain so. I accept the point Deputy Ó Cathasaigh makes about how crucial that is.

I thank Deputy Kerrane for raising this matter. It is something to which both she and I have a strong commitment and it is something I ensured was subject to a commitment in the programme for Government as I had raised it significantly on the Opposition benches. It is important we recognised that and reflected it through a forgotten farmers scheme which would set that to rights, as such. That is a commitment I have given and one on which significant preparatory work has been carried out within my Department. It is …

There was significant engagement with farm representative organisations on the issue and the challenge. At my request, the Department also carried out new analysis based on records available in 2021 to establish the most up-to-date position regarding the cohort of farmers who were affected. The analysis shows that approximately 3,500 farmers would meet the basic definition of forgotten farmer. The challenge in terms of rolling this out was the fact we were under significant pressure to develop an entirely new IT sy…

Yes, that is my objective. There has been significant engagement in the past two to three years with farm organisations on the definition of who would qualify and what they missed out on. The objective then is to work with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to secure a package that would reflect the fact that those farmers missed out during that period. A lot of the preparatory work has been completed. My next step is to engage in terms of securing the funding as wel…

I thank Deputy Bruton for the question and for the significant work and the path he carved out as a previous Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment in climate and energy and making real progress in reducing emissions in the wider economy. The Teagasc marginal abatement cost curve, MACC, published in 2018, has undoubtedly been the foundation for what agricultural climate measures are now included in the agricultural chapter of the Climate Action Plan 2024. We are making progress. The agriculture…

Teagasc has an important role to play and it is playing it. One of the key tools that will be very helpful to farmers is the launch of the AgNav online application which enables farmers to be clear on the numbers for their own farms, to see how that is evolving and to suggest steps to them which can reduce their emissions and measure that as they go. People have to know where they are at to be able to improve. This will help to give farmers that clarity. We have seen significant progress. The Deputy referred to the…

I agree that farmers respond. I agree that farmers' ability to have clarity in terms of where they are at with their own farms is important in empowering them to take steps which will further reduce emissions at farm level. I also agree it is important we incentivise this. Some of the steps we have taken, for example, the soil sampling scheme, have had a very significant uptake among farmers. The multi-species sward grant aid has seen very significant uptake, and more than 44,000 farmers applied for the liming sche…

In December 2018, a transition period to a ban on vessels over 18 m trawling in inshore waters inside the six nautical mile zone was announced. A significant part of the objective of this measure was to manage the fishing effort on sprat stocks, which are primarily targeted in inshore waters. However, this measure was the subject of extended legal proceedings, the outcome of which, received last year, is that the ban has been overturned, as we discussed previously. As I set out in my response to Question No. 89 of …

I will not prejudice what I do by indicating what the outcome will be at this point. We have received 5,000 submissions and it is important they are fully considered as part of the process and that I fully consider those. It closed in mid-April, about six weeks ago. Five thousand submissions is a lot to work through and they all deserve to be fully considered and taken into account. My team are working through all of that at the moment and we will work through them as promptly as we can. I want to conclude this as …

A provisional figure of 3,403 tonnes for sprat landings in 2023 has previously been provided by the SFPA. That is what I have to hand here. The figures over the years from 2018 to 2022 ranged from a minimum of approximately 3,500 tonnes of sprat landed in 2018, to a maximum of approximately 14,500 tonnes of sprat landed in 2021. Obviously, it is an important species and an important foundation species for the ecology and welfare of many other fish, their health and the sustainability of their stocks. I want to conc…

Each bag of fertiliser is required by law to state the fertiliser’s type - whether it is nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium - and the product and minimum content of nutrients, along with their forms and solubility. Indeed, the nutrient content of chemical fertiliser is the main determinant of its price and value to the farmer, with phosphorus being the most expensive nutrient of the three. To protect water quality, the European Communities (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2005, or, a…

It is important to say that there has not been a change with regard to the regulations, apart from for some farmers above the nitrates application's 130 kg N/ha requirement for soil sampling. That was communicated in 2022 and 2023. I know that the Agricultural Consultants Association has raised this and the understanding among farmers about this in the last short period of time, and I take the Deputy's point on the INHFA as well. It is something I have discussed in detail with my team in the Department. I have aske…