At the outset the initial intention was that everything would be scored within the one commonage together and the turbary would be within that commonage as well. The concern was then expressed that this could lead to a disproportionate impact on the overall score and the payment to the farmer. I then intervened and the decision was made to extract and separate out turbary from the wider commonage and that it would be scored separately as a separate parcel as such. Up to that it was going to be incorporated into the…

I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor for raising this issue. As she knows, it is well documented that food waste is an important and real challenge. It is an issue I take very seriously, both personally and in the strategic positions and actions taken by my Department. At the strategic level, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine works very closely with its counterpart, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, on exploring ways to achieve UN sustainable development goal 12.3, which com…

The Deputy is plugged into the farming community in her constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny and she does considerable work with its members. She is aware of the massive effort from morning until late at night, 365 days per year, that goes into producing food. I was glad to meet the large number of farmers who attended a meeting she organised a few months ago. The onus is on us all to ensure that the considerable work done by farm families ends up on plates, fuels, sustains and nourishes people in whatever part of the w…

We will keep up the work and continue to fund the many organisations that are doing great work in this area. A large part of addressing the issue involves talking about it and ensuring there is an awareness of it. For the average family household, food going from the fridge to the bin instead of from the fridge to the plate costs approximately €800 per year. It is a sin to see that food and all that went into getting it that far wasted. Each of us can do more in this regard. Everyone throughout the supply chain has…

This is a matter on which I have made a commitment. As a result of the economic recession prior to the CAP before last, a group of young farmers did not get to avail of a number of supports that had been available previously. Those farmers are still actively farming and we want to see them continuing in that. We also want the fact that they missed out on those earlier opportunities to be acknowledged in some way, and I have made a commitment to do that. Logistically, there is a significant challenge at departmental…

The Department has carried out a few analyses of this. The category of farmer we are discussing comprises those who commenced prior to 2008, were under 40 years of age in 2015 and held low-value entitlements under the BPS. A 2019 assessment showed that 3,900 farmers fulfilled the criteria, with the cost of increasing the value of entitlements estimated to be €12 million. Obviously, we are conducting a separate assessment now because we have seen convergence, which has averaged out payments significantly, happen in …

The system to identify the different categories of farmers and deliver the payment will be important. That is being expedited and moved forward. The overall funding commitment will determine the level of payment we can make. I will engage further with the Department of public expenditure and Deputy Kerrane on that. There has been significant engagement over the last two or three years with farm representative organisations about the definition of a forgotten farmer and who comes under that categorisation. That has …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 78 together. I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this issue. I know it is particularly important to farmers in Galway and Mayo, as it is in Donegal. Either Galway or Mayo has the highest number of ACRES participants, at more than 5,000, which is over one ninth of the national total. The scheme has been quite popular for people to engage with. There are issues with the practicalities of rolling it out. The particular challenge with ACRES is different from the other schemes we ha…

So far, only farmers participating in the general stream have received any payment. Out of 28,000 in the general stream, some 20,000 have received a payment, with over €88 million paid out to them so far. Around 18,000 other farmers are in the co-operation stream. They will now all receive €5,000 by the end of this month. Those in the general stream-----

Some 18,000 in the co-operation stream. In total, we will see 26,000 farmers receive the interim payment of either €4,000 in the case of the 8,000 general stream farmers who have not been paid, or €5,000 for the 18,000 co-operation stream farmers, none of whom have received a payment yet. I accept what the Deputy is saying. Farmers will be very keen to see the level of their final payment. The scoring was published and is publicly available. It would have been scored by the co-operation teams in each area and then …

Yes.

That would certainly be the intention.

In response to Deputy McNamara, my understanding from recollection is that approvals are still required in most of those instances. It would certainly be the intention that once approvals are given, they can move through to payments. That is part of the scheme that is still being rolled out and is the next step in relation to the co-operation streams. In response to Deputy Ó Cuív's question, the intention would be to be in a position to pay everybody by the end of this year. Obviously, the system is still being bui…

I thank the Dáil for scheduling this question-and-answer session. It is really important fisheries gets a strong airing here and in the committee. I always welcome the opportunity to do that and indeed I specifically requested we not have statements but statements, questions and answers because it is important to have the opportunity to discuss any of the key issues raised on the floor of the Dáil in order that they get discussed and teased out comprehensively. As we know, the outcome of the Brexit negotiations had…

Towards the end of last year - I do not recall the exact date - there was engagement by the European Commission with us, consulting in discussions as regards Iceland. I have at all times fully briefed and engaged, as I always do, all the fishing sector representatives as to how we would approach those discussions. There has been no deal with Iceland. The reason for that is the stance I have taken. I have refused to accept or to agree to any mandate in this regard because I very much value and respect our waters and…

No. There is no mandate for discussions and no mandate to proceed to any negotiation here. There have been informal discussions between the European Commission and Iceland, which is often the case, but nothing can proceed unless a mandate is provided by European Union member states to the Commission to proceed with negotiations. As I said, I have been the only Minister who has been forthrightly refusing to provide a mandate because I have set very clear outlines under which any negotiation would take place. They wo…

The reason there has been no mandate is because of the position I have taken as the Irish Minister. I consulted with those in our sector, and they are fully up to speed on everything that has happened here. I have kept them up to speed at all times. I read out what I have done regarding the line I have taken with the Commission. I have set a very high threshold, which is absolutely appropriate, with regard to respecting our waters in terms of fish and the fish coming to Ireland, should there be any deal. Our share …

No, that is not what I said. The Deputy will find that if he talks to people in the industry, there are very different views among them. In fact, he will also find that their views have changed over the last number of weeks and months. What I clearly said is that I consulted with them all at the start and right along the way. I have laid down very hard lines. Obviously, when we are the only member state that is really preventing this mandate happening, we have to be credible. We have to have clear lines and be able…

Okay, I will keep it to 30 seconds. With regard to the producer organisations report, I have advocated and for the first time, we have seen two inshore producer organisations established. They have the same funding available to them that other producer organisations in the same structure would have. That is really important. There has been significant investment in piers and harbours through Brexit, but also significant State investment. The Deputy might recall the announcement I made last week. That is from nation…

That is not somewhere I have gone. I did an extra tie-up scheme last year instead of doing a fuel subsidy. Prices have come down again, but there is still a cost. Obviously, the challenge with fuel subsidies is that once we go there, there is no revenue. For example, marine fuel does not have any tax on it unlike other taxes. It is tax free apart from VAT, which is reclaimable.