Archive for September 2012
Final Day to Apply for 2012 Amenity Grant – Cork Co. Council
Amenity Grant 2012 Application Form
Guidelines to applying for the Amenity Grant can be viewed at http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/343077138.pdf
COVENEY ANNOUNCES €20M AGRI-ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS SCHEME (AEOS)
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD., announced today that he is re-opening the Agri-Environmental Options Scheme, AEOS, to new entrants.
Minister Coveney said that “Despite the challenging budgetary constraints within the Department, I am delighted to be in a position to announce that I am providing €20m for the AEOS scheme which will open shortly for applications”. He said “the scheme will build on the success of both the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) and both AEOS 1 and 2 in delivering an annual income to farmers in return for farming to high environmental standards.”
MINISTER COVENEY ANNOUNCES PAYMENTS WORTH €154 MILLION UNDER 2012 DISADVANTAGED AREAS SCHEME
I welcome The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD’s announcement today that payments under the 2012 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme will start issuing, on schedule, on Wednesday, 26 September 2012. Minister Coveney stated that he is “particularly pleased to see that these payments, worth some €154 million, are issuing on target, particularly as this funding will provide a boost to the rural economy and will benefit all areas of the country”, said the Minister.
Minister Coveney confirmed that the initial run of payments, worth €154 million to 74,000 farmers, includes a sizeable number (3,750) being made to farmers who successfully applied for derogation from the revised stocking density requirement, included as part of the range of technical adjustments necessitated by budgetary requirements. “It will be recalled that I gave a firm commitment to have a system in place to consider derogation applications from farmers who could show that their inability to reach the revised stocking level of 0.3 livestock units per forage hectare in 2011 was due to circumstances outside their control. I am pleased to note that the processing of these appeals has not negatively impacted on achieving the payments targets and indeed I note that the level of payments set to issue next week compares very favourably with previous years”, the Minister said.
Harrington welcomes agreement on inter-country adoption with Vietnam
Fine Gael TD, for Cork South West, has welcomed the historic Administrative Agreement on inter-country adoption with Vietnam which has been officially signed by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald TD.
The agreement was also signed by the Vietnamese Minister for Justice, Ha Hung Cuong, on behalf of the Vietnamese Central Authority, and Dr Geoffrey Shannon Chair of the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) at the AAI headquarters.
“Minister Fitzgerald has driven this process to a successful conclusion and is to be warmly congratulated. It was a priority for her on taking office and it is clear that the resumption of adoptions with Vietnam is a result of her political commitment and focus.
“Local families in West Cork and others across the country who have waited patiently for developments on this matter will be hugely relieved. Minister Fitzgerald has engaged with the Vietnamese Government at both a political and diplomatic level over the past year in order to reach this successful conclusion, with meetings in Dublin, London and Vietnam.