Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise that I had to leave to head into the Chamber. I want to say a huge thank you to our witness today. He has obviously put an awful lot of thought and legal research into this. It is also great he is able to share his own lived experience from Holland with us. In terms of Mr. Walsh's three recommendations, his first was with regard to the legislation that is in place already and that it should be better communicated, with perhaps warnings on the pesticides as they are purchased or at the point of sale. I totally agree with Mr. Walsh on that. That is a practical suggestion that could definitely make a big impact and increase awareness as to what the rules are currently and what is safe and unsafe and legal and illegal.

Mr. Walsh's second recommendation was in terms of all local authorities following the path of Cork City Council. Each local authority has its own jurisdiction when it comes to these things. However, if we were to look at that blanket synergy, if you like, we would probably need a directive or ministerial order. I would certainly be interested to hear more. I do not know if we have further plans as a committee. I know it is in some of the documentation referenced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but I would still be interested, nonetheless, to hear from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on this as well to see whether it thought that would make sense.

In terms of the non-chemical alternatives, Mr. Walsh referenced the UK-based experience of a vegetable oil-based alternative, which is used approximately every six weeks during growing season. Forgive my ignorance but does Mr. Walsh know the current situation in terms of how often farmers have to spray pesticides? It is just to give me that background knowledge.

Have any reports or analyses been done in the UK in order that we could maybe learn from its experience, see what is working and not working, what needs tweaking, or whether there is something we could just lift and shift and work away with here? Much research has been done on this. I know at an EU level the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies are and will be Ireland's guiding principles on this. An awful lot of work is being undertaken at an EU level. The plan is to have 50% less pesticides in use in eight years' time and to reduce that overall risk of chemical pesticides by 50% in eight years. My understanding is the European Commission is finalising a proposal around the sustainable use regulation to replace the sustainable use directive and that will come into force here. Is that something on which Mr. Walsh has any insights? I know he is not necessarily an expert in this field, if he will forgive the pun. I compliment the amount of research he has done, however, so he may well have research on this as well.