Mr. Henry O'Donnell:

I will more or less reiterate what Mr. Condon said. We are extremely concerned about the impact of some of these actions on uplands, both privately owned and commonage. There have been issues with conservation grazing of these areas and it is becoming more and more apparent that cattle are a very useful tool on uplands. I am involved in a project to reintroduce cattle in a managed way, to remove fire loads, to improve biodiversity and to encourage sheep back onto some areas that, due to past regulation that reduced their numbers, left those areas ungrazeable for sheep.

We are very anxious to ensure the conservation tool of bovines on uplands is not affected by the new nitrates plan. We must have the facility to manage bovines on uplands in a way that does not impose a huge cost on the farmers doing it. In addition to farming these areas and removing fire loads, farmers are performing a public service by keeping uplands in a good environmental and agricultural condition. It would be very unfortunate if new nitrates regulations stopped this activity.