DAFM will ‘endeavour' to provide adequate notice of farm inspections
Fianna Fáil TD, Michael Cahill, has called for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon to ensure farm inspections are scheduled with at least two weeks' notice.
In a parliamentary question this week, Deputy Cahill also asked the minister to ensure that inspections do not take place during the lambing period.
The TD suggested conducting inspections during shearing from mid-June to mid-July, or ramming from mid-September to early November, to minimise disruption for farmers.
In response, Minister Heydon highlighted that on-farm inspections are a requirement of EU regulations.
According to the minister, the inspection approach and reporting system used is standardised across all areas of the country, to ensure consistency and fair treatment of all farmers.
Minister Heydon said: 'In relation to providing notice for on-farm inspections, as agreed in the Farmers' Charter of Rights with the farm bodies, all inspections will, in the main, be announced.
'However, where giving such notice interferes with the purpose or effectiveness of the control, no notice is given. The level of notice given is generally two days.'
'In duly justified cases, additional notice may be given but limited to the minimum necessary. This may particularly be the case for inspections involving hill sheep flocks,' Minister Heydon explained.
Farm inspections
According to Minister Heydon, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) takes account of the circumstances and follows agreed protocols with the farming bodies in relation to penning at lambing time.
'I can assure the deputy that in relation to carrying out inspections in hill sheep areas, my department will endeavour to take account of the timing of inspections relative to when sheep move to and from the hills,' Minister Heydon said.
He also said that DAFM will 'endeavour' to provide adequate notice and tolerances to take account of the unique circumstances in the hill areas, while at the same time endeavouring to complete the necessary inspections to ensure that farmers receive their payments on time.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Phantom cigarette puffer of Merrion Street prompts chortles in Dáil
What was that thing Gerry Adams said about informers in those slithery years before his beatification? Ah yes. 'The consequence for informing is death.' Thankfully, times are much different now. There are other ways of putting manners on people. READ MORE But still, a worried Micheál Martin – no sainted stalwart of the republican struggle – will be watching his back in coming days and weeks. Because nobody likes a political snitch either. (That's not strictly true. Some of us love them.) And after what the Taoiseach said in the Dáil chamber on Wednesday afternoon, we hear one of his own Ministers is out to kill him. But who? And why? It all kicked off with a very worthy contribution from Fianna Fáil 's Malcolm Byrne during questions on policy. Deputy Byrne reminded Micheál that the previous government agreed to introduce further laws regulating nicotine-inhaling products such as vapes, including restrictions on advertising, colours, flavours and imagery. The commitment is also in the programme for government. Any sign of this Bill? 'This is a public-health emergency,' said Malcolm, pointing to a recent survey of young people in Northern Ireland that found that 76 per cent of respondents had never smoked a cigarette before they started using vapes. He finished with a suggestion for the Taoiseach. In line with the example set by public institutions such as universities and the like 'maybe yourself and the Ceann Comhairle might agree that Leinster House would become a tobacco-free campus'. Steady on, Malcolm. Many of your colleagues are living on their nerves as it is. Some of the most senior TDs and senators, from across the political spectrum, are sneaky smokers. But Malcolm was pushing an open door here. Micheál is rightly proud of his record in this area. When he was minister for health back in 2004 he introduced the world's first statewide smoking ban, a landmark piece of public-health legislation. Don't get him going on the subject of the ciggies. Too late. Well, Malcolm. Now that you say it... A delighted-looking Micheál turned around to spill the beans to his deputy for Wicklow-Wexford. 'I spotted an errant Minister yesterday as I looked out a window, who had assured me that he had given up cigarettes and cigarette smoking,' he grinned, almost hugging himself with glee. 'Eh, he was caught red-handed as I looked out the window, but anyway, heh-heh...' Red-handed, no less. Oh, but he was only thrilled, slapping his hands flat against his two jacket pockets as if proclaiming to the world that you'll never, ever, find a packet of fags in either one of them. 'Pressure of the job, Taoiseach,' interjected the kindly Ceann Comhairle, in mitigation of the unknown Minister. 'But it was a funny moment, ha-ha-ha,' chortled Micheál, still cracking up at the thought of it. 'Pressure of the job, heh-heh, yeah...' Somewhere on the campus, a certain Minister's ears must have been burning like yesterday's surreptitious ciggie. As for Malcolm's question, the Taoiseach said Minister of State Mary Butler was making progress on the legislation, which has 'some European dimension to it' but the Government is anxious to get it done as quickly as possible. But for now, he couldn't give a timeline for the Bill. As for making Leinster House a no-smoking campus, that is a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas commission to examine. He urged those TDs and senators who still smoke to give it up. Needless to say, speculation immediately turned to the phantom puffer of Merrion Street. Who could it be? Obviously, it couldn't be a female minister because the one the Taoiseach 'caught red-handed' was a 'he'. Although that doesn't help much because a mere three women are senior Ministers. That only leaves 11 suspects as Micheál was clearly referring to a Cabinet member. One Minister was immediately in the frame. He likes to step out of his office on occasion and take the air on the North Road, which runs along Government Buildings on the Leinster House side. This has always been the place where the Ministers who don't smoke smoke and where the famous glass 'Bridge of Sighs' runs overhead, connecting both buildings. We contacted Darragh O'Brien , who immediately denied the charge. His daughter would kill him if she knew he was out smoking on the sly. 'So would his wife,' said a well-placed informant. Luckily for him, the Taoiseach said he was looking out the window when he caught the ministerial puffer in the act. Micheál cannot see the North Road from his window. There is only one other senior Minister with an office near him and that is the non-smoking Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Harris , who occupies the suite below. Simon would have had to be hanging out his window at an extremely dangerous angle with a ciggie dangling from his fingers for the Taoiseach to catch a glimpse. But wait. Micheál can see the courtyard of Government Buildings from his eyrie. And, on the day in question (Tuesday), both Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers and Minister for Housing James Browne were in that same courtyard for media briefings. It is highly unlikely that Jack, a medical doctor among other things, would have been smoking unless he was trying to look edgy. As for James Browne. He too is a non-smoker. Or at least he was a non-smoker until Micheál gave him the housing hospital pass and now he's on 60 Major a day and eating nicotine pouches for breakfast. Patrick O'Donovan? He smokes all right, but it only comes out of his ears when he talks to arty folk and people from RTÉ. Jim O'Callaghan? He may be an SC, but his Silk Cut is that of the senior counsel. Martin Heydon? No. Dara Calleary? No. James Lawless? No. What about Paschal Donohoe? 'When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth' said Sherlock Holmes. Except when it comes to Paschal – I keep my youthful dimples by not smoking, thank you very much – Donohoe. Let us look again at a crucial line from Micheál's Dáil bombshell. 'I spotted an errant Minister as I looked out a window...' Notice he said was looking out 'a window' not 'his' window or 'my' window. Because – and we now know this for a fact – he was not in his office when the sighting of the Minister occurred. Because the Taoiseach was, in fact, on the Bridge of Sighs! Not only that, my friends, but he was crossing the Bridge of Sighs with a large entourage, including a delegation from the Cork Chamber of Commerce who were up in the big schmoke for dinner with the Taoiseach when they saw a Minister who likes to take the air on the North Road down below them having a big schmoke. Not only that, but several witnesses will confirm that Micheál banged on the window when he saw this politician out on the North Road dragging away. 'He startled him mid-puff,' said one. 'He wagged his finger at him as well,' said another. We are not sure if a finger was raised in reply. That wouldn't be the Malahide way. Darragh O'Brien is going to have to kill Micheál now. Or at least put manners on him, the way St Gerry did with the BBC. Otherwise his daughter is going to have his guts for garters and the missus will absolutely burst him. That's if it was Darragh O'Brien, who is still saying it definitely was not him. Because he has definitely given up the ciggies. And that's what he definitely told Micheál. Justice for the Mallyer One. Please let there be a court case.
Agriland
8 hours ago
- Agriland
Video: Heydon to prioritise CAP at meeting with commissioner
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has said that the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be the priority topic for discussion in a planned meeting with the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food in Japan tomorrow (Thursday, June 12). Minister Heydon was speaking to Agriland on the Irish Government Bord Bia trade mission to the Republic of Korea and Japan today (Wednesday, June 11). The minister will travel from Tokyo to Osaka tomorrow for EXPO 2025 where a meeting has been organised with Commissioner Christophe Hansen. The meeting follows much criticism of recent proposals by the European Commission to streamline the CAP. The European Commission is understood to be planning a radical overhaul of the EU budget – the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – as part of which the commission is planning to merge its various funding programmes into a smaller number of funds, which would be allocated all together to member states. This could not only see the merging of funding for both pillars of CAP, but potentially also the end of ringfenced funding for CAP, farm organisations have warned. Last week, Minister Heydon was one of 20 EU agriculture ministers who wrote to the European Commission for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration calling for an adequate budget for the CAP. Heydon Ireland's 'National Day' at EXPO 2025 in Osaka will take place on Saturday, June 14 and Minister Heydon will be the Irish Government representative at the event along with Irish Ambassador to Japan, Damien Cole. During his time at EXPO, Minister Heydon said CAP reform is a top priority for his meeting with Commissioner Hansen. 'I'll have a number of things to talk through with him [Commissioner Hansen]. Obviously a top priority is CAP and CAP reform ahead of the announcement of multi-annual financial framework or budget and his proposals for CAP at that time. 'He is very clear on what Ireland's priorities are… but having an opportunity to engage with him again at this pivotal time is really important. 'He well aware of the priority that I have placed on nitrates derogation and on regaining that; he doesn't have final say for that.' Heydon explained that the retention of the nitrates derogation for Ireland falls under the remit of the Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall. 'I met her at my last AGFISH council meeting in Brussels a couple of weeks ago and again we talked through the process which we are going through with the series of meeting happening in Brussels and the very close work happening between my officials in Dublin and in Brussels,' the minister added.
Irish Independent
13 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Taoiseach accuses Mary Lou McDonald of ‘clichéd bingo announcements' as SF leader hits out at rental plan
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has accused Mary Lou McDonald of "clichéd bingo announcements" on the new rental rules. She had engaged in "bluff and bluster" on Morning Ireland this morning, the Fianna Fáil leader said, namechecking "vulture" and "cuckoo" funds, and saying the Government should "let builders build". It was an incredibly detailed policy, Mr Martin said, adding that Sinn Féin itself had been meeting developers and investors to discuss ways of encouraging private interests into the housing market. He said Eoin Ó Broin, the party's spokesman on housing, had done so "in his attempt to be super-cerebral on these issues." However, Mr Martin did not answer Ms McDonald's questions about what research had gone into the policy package before it was announced. She also called for clarification on the six-year rule governing the resetting of rents, and whether it applied to "all landlords" as had been stated in a press release from the Department of Housing - which has since been changed. Ms McDonald said he was asking on behalf of renters "confused by your own proposal and unclear as to what you're saying." She added, however: 'There is one thing that is clear. Your plan will push up rents even further. It's only a question of when renters will be hit. "You'll allow landlords themselves to set a market rate for rent after March 1, 2006, and throughout the course of next year, tens of thousands of renters will face higher rents. "Some will pay full market rent at the start of their tenancy, and all will face big hikes at the end. Tenants entering new-build properties will be hit with market level rent on day one, and with rent increases tied to inflation thereafter, they're set to see their rent rise sharply.' Fianna Fáil "rolls the dice on housing once again," she said, "with no guarantee that it will lead to any significant increase in supply. "The Housing Agency is very clear on that score. Even in the most optimistic of scenarios, your plan will see high-end apartments in exclusive pockets of Dublin charging eye-watering rent. "In the rest of Dublin, and in every other county, there will be no extra supply, but there will be much higher rents." Reflecting an Irish Independent story this morning, Ms McDonald said: "There's a very real danger that your plan will actually tighten supply - as landlords now delay putting properties back on the market in order to charge a higher rent from next March." The Taoiseach said: "Existing tenants will stay and be capped at 2pc [ increase per year]. That is clear. "Any new tenancies after March 2026 will be capped by the CPI [the Consumer Price Index, meaning inflation]. That is also very clear. "But you have sought to sow confusion, because, of course, you condemned this before you even saw the detail of it. "During the last couple of months, you declared that RPZs would be eliminated. You didn't expect this package of measures." He added: "I listened to you on Morning Ireland [on RTE Radio 1] and it was all bluff and bluster. "You're back to the vulture funds. go back a few weeks and just replay what Deputy Eoin Ó Broin said on Virgin TV - he acknowledged and recognised a role for institutional funds in the Irish market. "So who do I believe here? You just call it vulture funds because it plays well, but it's just clichéd bingo announcements. "That's all you're adding. I heard you this morning, and it's just bluff and bluster." In contrast, the changes announced by Government - with legislation to be brought in within the next fortnight - "will be a huge jump forward in providing long-term stability." He said Threshold, the renters' representative organisation, had welcomed the national extension of Rent Pressure Zones.
