Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. I apologise but I was speaking in the Dáil so I missed some of the meeting. Perhaps some of the points I will raise have already been covered. Am I to take it that our guests are taking issue with the closed period during which spreading is prohibited? Are they saying the system is too simplistic and not practical at farm level? They have also pointed out that our watercourses are polluted, which means there is a failure in the system as it stands. Do our guests' system for analysing ground conditions for particular areas, combined with weather forecasting and taking into account a particular pasture base and machine-type information, suggest that the closed period should be substantially changed? If so, what changes do our guests foresee? Have they engaged with the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, on their views?