Mr. Tim Cullinan:

I thank Deputy Brown. We have 7,000 farmers in derogation at present. If there are to be changes, obviously all these farmers will be impacted and, perhaps, other farmers outside of this also. A substantial number of farmers may be affected by this. If farmers are to be asked to increase slurry storage again, we have a problem with the availability of builders. Getting a contractor is a major concern. There is a wider issue of labour on farms. This is a major concern for us. Much investment has already been made. For this reason, it is critical that we continue with the system we have.

I stressed earlier that applying organic fertiliser until mid-October is a very effective way of dealing with organic fertiliser coming from farms. We have to continue doing this.

The Deputy raised an excellent point on the tillage sector, particularly in his region of south Tipperary and north and east Cork. A large amount of winter cereal is sown. If we were to have a closing date of 15 September, many of these crops would not even be harvested by then. We hear from the Department that we want to build up organic matter on tillage farms. This is a valuable resource, in particular, from the pig and poultry sector. Traditionally, much of the organic fertiliser coming from these sectors went to tillage farms. Will somebody explain to me how this will work if we are to bring the date back to mid-September? This year was an exception as we had excellent weather. In the normal course, the impact of weather and crops possibly not being sown until the back end of the previous year mean that harvests can run into the first week of October. We have to ensure this window is kept open. We all speak about closing the loop.

We have an excellent example here of where organic fertiliser can be used to grow crops which, in turn, can be used to feed our animals. Somebody has to call a stop to some of these ludicrous proposals that are on the table at the moment.