I am thankful for the opportunity to introduce the Sea-Fisheries (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 to the Upper House. By way of background, I advise Senators that EU Council Regulation No. 1224/2009, known as the control regulation, requires, inter alia , that member states implement a points system for serious infringements of the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, committed by the master or skipper of a fishing vessel. The points system is intended to promote compliance with the rules of the CFP and s…

I thank Senators for their contributions. One of the key things that came through in two or three of the contributions was the issue of beyond reasonable doubt. I will touch on that matter first. The standard of proof used in the determination of an appeals officer is the balance of probability. It is a matter that has been raised throughout the progress of this Bill. It has not only been raised here today; it was also raised in the Dáil and in committee. I reiterate that the legal standard of beyond a reasonable d…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter for the first time with me today. It is a matter I have been working on for a significant number of weeks now and through the end of last year as the crisis emerged in the pig industry. I have met representatives of the Irish Farmers Association national pig committee directly and last week I attended a meeting of the vast majority of pig farmers nationally at a centre in the Green Isle Hotel in Dublin. I committed to work to deliver a support mechanism to help with the fi…

Absolutely, and we want to support them through this period.

I thank Senator O'Reilly for raising this very important issue, and for having raised it with me since it has emerged and become more acute. The continued development of the pigmeat sector, as the Senator knows, is a priority for me, given the pivotal role the industry plays in the national economic context, which he clearly outlined in his contribution. It is one of the largest agrifood sectors and has shown remarkable growth in recent years. The sector supports approximately 8,000 jobs, as the Senator pointed out…

I again thank Senator O'Reilly for putting this issue on the agenda. The sector is very strong in his home county of Cavan and the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, as is the poultry sector. Those two counties are shining lights in terms of driving forward the opportunities in the agrifood sector and are leaders regarding poultry and pigs. I am very much aware of the pressures farmers in his county are under, as well as in my county and throughout the country. We will monitor the situation closely and seek to support…

I thank Members for their opening contributions on the first amendment to the Bill tonight. The purpose of this legislation is to prohibit fur farming in Ireland, provide for a compensation scheme for the farmers affected and introduce other miscellaneous amendments to the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. The legislation also introduces some unrelated but important amendments to the Forestry Act 2014. These amendments will confer a regulation making power on the Minister to make regulations to facilitate small-s…

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked about the 1 ha threshold. We are trying to make it as easy and as practical as possible for farmers to be able to plant up to 1 ha without a licence. Under the current legislation, the situation which has been in place for many years now, the threshold is 0.1 ha. Anything over 0.1 ha has required a licence for many years but anything under 0.1 ha has not. We are applying what I think is a common-sense approach in increasing that to 1 ha. That will provide farmers with the capacity to ma…

I thank Deputies Carthy and Browne for the amendment. This is already provided for in section 9(d) of the Bill with the requirement on the Minister to provide, by regulation, for a scheme to facilitate the planting of native tree areas. It is, therefore, provided in the Bill that the Minister would do that by way of regulation. This provides that the legislation to establish a scheme must be consistent with and based on the legislation adopted by the Oireachtas in the primary legislation, which we are considering i…

Again, I understand the point the Deputy made. I believe it is already well provided for in the legislation. As we know, I spent much time at the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine earlier today. I have spent a lot of time talking about forestry in the agriculture committee previously, as indeed has the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, who has done Trojan work in bringing this Bill forward in terms of drafting this initiative. With regard to confidence in the forestry sector and in the Department, we …

I do not propose to accept this amendment. The reason, as with the previous amendment, is that we have to decide what is proportionate and sensible to put into primary legislation, as opposed to dealing with it through policy and regulation. For example, the particular proposal the Deputy is putting forward will be accommodated fully in the scheme and the regulations. The amendment does not mention archaeological sites in the area and how they would interact with the scheme, or water courses, biodiversity, habitats…

Deputy Carthy and I are at one with regard to the importance of ensuring that this is accommodated in the scheme that is put in place. As with those other points I mentioned, this issue will be accommodated through policy and guidelines so it is not necessary or appropriate to put it into the primary legislation. I assure the Deputy that such matters will be fully taken into account in the positive schemes that will be brought forward as a result of this legislation, which has universal support in the House. Howeve…

I thank all of the Deputies for their contributions to the legislation and on this initial amendment. Given we had dealt with this on Committee Stage previously, I do not propose to accept the amendment. I have given in great detail my rationale and logic as to why that is the case. It has been subject to very significant interrogation and assessment going back to when it was in the Dáil previously and when the previous statutory instrument was annulled. At that stage, a number of amendments were put forward by my …

I did not personalise it.

The Deputy is attacking the fishing-----

As per what Deputy Mac Lochlainn read out, I have always been measured and anchored in logic in any arguments I have made. The Deputy tried earlier, in his first contribution, to equate what he was saying with what I had said previously. As is clear from what he read out from my contribution that night, I said that the Department's track record in bringing forward a statutory instrument was not a good one, given that it had already been knocked down in the Supreme Court twice. I think that was fair comment. It had …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his comments. This has been a bizarre debate. This is the second amendment. During the debate on the first amendment, pretty much all the Opposition speakers spent their time telling me that I changed my opinion when I moved from one side of the House to the other. They told me that now I am on the Government side of the House I am peddling a different set of policies. I clearly laid out that was not the case. I laid out the logic in what I am doing and what I have brought forward. I…

I thank Deputy Carthy for raising this important and immediate issue. The continued development of the pig meat sector is a real priority for me, given the pivotal role the industry plays in the national economic context, which the Deputy outlined in terms of it being the third-largest grossing sector in the agrifood sector. It supports approximately 8,000 jobs which span production, slaughter, processing, feed manufacture and services. Our pig farmers have always been remarkably resilient but I am acutely aware of…

I thank Deputy Carthy for the constructive way he has raised this issue with the focus being on how we can support pig farmers at a very difficult time. I have been engaging with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Minister of State, Deputy English, in particular, about the workforce. We will work to try to expedite the capacity for workforce permits for the processing sector, which is very important and has been under pressure. With regard to the SBCI and loans, I explored the option of a po…

Housing costs went up 12% under a Sinn Féin Minister in the North.