Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The issue that caught my eye most, as discussed by Deputy Carthy, is the number of peatlands that are being farmed around the country, whether they are in mountainous or lowland areas such as those in County Kerry, where there are a lot of dairy cows. We must remember that in the 1970s and 1980s, the EU and Irish Governments gave grants to put shores every 7 m or 8 m apart and to gravel tunnel them and put grass into them. We need to be clear on this, from what Mr. Callanan has stated. First, are we going to be telling those farmers that it would be better now if they did not have cattle in on that land? Mr. Callanan talked about water tables. At the same time, are going to be giving derogations to others to go over 170 kg, when 115,000 farmers can stay under the 170 kg threshold in derogations?

You can do a lot in life but you cannot do anything about where you are born. If you have land where you are born, you farm it and families are brought up on it. We need clarification from Mr. Callanan. If a farmer wants to farm, 170 is the figure for the nitrates, be the farmer in Cork, Dublin or Donegal. Is Mr. Callanan saying those farmers will be left at that if they wish or that there will be a scheme if they want to do something different with their land in the line of water tables? I want to know what Mr. Callanan means by water tables. Water tables were reduced when land was shored. You would go into a swamp or wet piece of ground with rushes and grass was not growing, and grants were given for that. You put in the shores, ploughed it, seeded it and brought it to a standard. You make a good job of it and put sheep or cattle in it. You had to mind it but it gave families a living from the top of Donegal to the bottom of Kerry. The maps are there. A lot of it is in the west and north west. We will talk about those areas in general because they are most affected by the figure of 80,000 ha that is being talked about. Members need clarification for our constituents. Deputy Carthy is also in that area. Will those farmers be allowed to farm the way they do under the same conditions as a farmer in any other part of the country or will they be restricted through nitrate levels or other restrictions under the new measures being spoken about?