Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the issue of climate change and how we are affected by it, and the run-off from farms and when we spread slurry. Is the Department concerned about how we calculate the effect climate change has on our environment? As an example, on a June bank holiday weekend about six years ago, when we had an unusual storm event, most of the silage was cut in my part of the world in mid-May. We had an exceptional amount of run-off because of the glacial valleys that occurred there, and two beaches were effectively closed, as a result.

The farmers affected had been following good farming practice throughout but the change in weather on the day in question caught these guys, the best farmers in Ireland, offside. They were not spreading slurry on the day of the storm but over the previous ten days. How much analysis is done of the effect of heavy summer rains in particular and their impact on run-off?