Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Healy for his presentation. Farmers have the most to lose in the context of this review. Substantial investment was made on infrastructure on farmyards under the farm waste management scheme and significant improvements were made in water quality, but it disappointing that the last water quality report published showed that water quality has disimproved in a number of areas. In my county 66 villages have no water treatment plant. In an agricultural county like ours, how can we get our water quality right if everyone is not going to make the necessary investment. Farmers have made a huge investment. County councils need to get involved. The village of Golden in Tipperary, located on the banks of the River Suir, which is quite sizeable, has no water treatment plant. That is inconceivable. If water quality disimproves, we could easily lose our derogation. If we lose our derogation, all the plans we have under Food Wise and every other plan and projection will go out the window. It is critical that we get it right.

Mr. Healy referred to the calendar farming regime for the spreading of slurry. That is something that hits farmers hard. It is very important for us to maintain and improve our water quality as we move forward. Our green image is very important for the sale of our product. Leaving that aside, we simply have to get this right. The ordinary consumer will see the report and farmers were put high up on the list as being guilty with respect to the last report. That was not justified as we have made a huge investment. If other sectors had to invest proportionately what farmers have invested, the story we would be discussing and the review would be much less onerous on us.

We have a job of work to do here and we need to do it collectively. All sections of society need to pull their weight and ensure that they contribute and put their money and capital investment in to ensure we can continue to progress and our water. We had a very good period of water quality improvement that, unfortunately, slipped back. The wet weather has probably had an impact on the agricultural side of things. Someone could say they wanted two dry days after spreading fertiliser but how could they get them? There was probably some run off there which has contributed to the problem but that will always be an issue. County councils have a job of work to do and it must be done immediately. That investment must be put in place. The fact that they are such contributors to that deterioration in water quality is not on. We do not want this review to be taken for granted. We have to make sure that Ireland's case is put forward well but for that, we need a battle plan to show what investment we will have to improve water quality from other than the agricultural sector.