Mr. Jack Nolan:

On the Deputy's question relating to LESS, we have to accept that 99% of ammonia comes from agriculture and that needs to change very quickly. The Minister is 100% right in his statement that there will be a glide path, but we need to change and accept that. It is the same as what the Deputy said about water quality. It is just not acceptable anymore. Many farmers are probably contractors, or vice versa, and may be availing of grant aid that way. It might be awkward for them, but they are able to get grant aid. The Deputy is correct that it would help a lot if contractors got grant aid for low-emission equipment.

On the issue of mixed swards, I refer to what Teagasc has shown There was a smart sward project in UCD, run by Helen Sheridan and Tommy Boland and funded by the Department. It showed that nitrogen can be reduced by 100 kg per hectare and there are health benefits from that. Teagasc research has shown for the past 20 years the effects of using clover. It is the clover in the mixed swards that really helps to reduce nitrogen. When we did a derogation review in 2019, we made it compulsory for derogation farmers to include clover when reseeding. That will help them to reduce nitrogen. We have already made it compulsory. Teagasc appeared before the committee last week or the week before that to discuss carbon sequestration and climate change. It has towers on these different types of swards, such as Italian rye grass mixed species swards. There is one at Johnstown Castle in County Wexford. In the next three years, it will show what the actual reductions are from mixed-species swards and what the benefits are with regard to sequestration, but we know that currently nitrogen can be reduced by up to 100 kg per hectare by using clover which is part of a mixed sward.