Mr. John Keane:

From our farmers' point of view, the slurry is one piece but the inclusion in the overall farm stocking rate is a very important piece as well. That cannot be forgotten because you will have to rear all your young stock. If that is not being included in your overall on-farm stocking rate, it increases your milking farm stocking rate which will reduce the amount of stock you can carry. That will have an undue effect on the profitability of your enterprise. There are two elements to that too.

In terms of the grant aid support, I definitely welcome grant aid support for soil water storage and for slurry storage. The issue is, in terms of the regulations when they are imposed, those who fall outside the current limits who are under pressure for storage right now will not be able to avail of grant aid support. There are a significant number of farmers who will not be able to avail of grant aid support at the time given their circumstances. They will have to become compliant to avail of that grant aid support and that will put undue pressure on them. It will alienate them and leave them at a significant disadvantage.

On the anaerobic digestion question, something we touched on a little earlier, we would be very much in favour of the development of that. We mentioned the feeding tariff and the need for improvements there around the planning as well. The issue the Deputy brought up around pelleting also needs considerable support to make it viable.