Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses to the committee. One of them said that the State has invested in water modelling but it has not invested in treatment plants around our towns and villages. This cut to the nitrates derogation is going to especially hurt and affect small family dairy farmers. One such farmer was on to me earlier this evening. He is milking 60 cows and his Teagasc adviser told him that, with the new proposals, he could be asked to reduce his herd from 60 to 42, a loss of 18. It was reported in yesterday'sFarming Independent that many farmers will have to reduce their herds by 25 cows, a cut or reduction of 29%. Are the witnesses aware of that effect? There is something fellas cannot understand. This man who was in contact with me has been told that he will have to cut the 29 tonnes of fertiliser he normally got to fertilise his farm down to 12 tonnes.

One of the witnesses mentioned how fellas could increase their land holdings by either renting or buying. A new dimension is now coming into play in land sales. The environmentalists and the Department are purchasing farms for environmental reasons so these farms are not available. Land is getting very scarce and, as Deputy Fitzmaurice said, they are not making any more of it.

Farmers are now being hit on three fronts. They are being hit by the nitrates derogation, the proposed culling of cows and the rewetting. Has any thought been given to farmers' incomes and the loss of their spending in the local community, whether in the shop, in stores or on services? More importantly, has any thought been given to food security, the cost of food and the predicament many households find themselves in with that cost? There could be a scarcity of food. At the same time, we read that the water quality in Ireland is much higher than in Denmark, Flanders and other areas. What measures will our country or the Department take with regard to dairy or beef products coming from Brazil? We are all under the one sky after all. When we look up, we are all looking at the moon at night and at the sun in the morning from the same direction. We need to be aware of what is happening. When we get rid of a fella's cows, we should be aware that he did not put them up overnight. It took generations to build them up and for him to get to the position he is in today. We have to remember that farmers have spent fortunes, millions of euro, inside the farm gate.

When talking about water, one of the witnesses said that it is different water but all water is the same to me. Even if the State and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications are not interested in treatment plants or talking about the damage sewage from urban areas is doing, I am worried about it because I have been fighting the case for years. Many towns, villages and settlements in Kerry, including Scartaglin, Currow and other places, do not even have a treatment plant.

We are talking about driving these farmers out of production and making them unviable because, if a fella's herd is cut from 60 to 42, his farm is not viable. His son is not going to come back from wherever he is getting his education to try to get on top of things. He will not come back to the farm I am talking about where that man was trying to rear a family with 60 cows. The young fella will not come back for 42 because, as he goes on, he will have to increase production. We also have to remember that the same departmental officials advised the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, to increase the production of milk back in 2012 or 2013. They advised him that milk was the new white gold, yet here we are, a short few years later, telling farmers that they will have to cut back and that the nitrates derogations is being cut from 250 kg per hectare to 230 kg or 220 kg. We have to be realistic. I ask the officials to take this message back to their bosses because the people out there are outraged at what is going on. We have to be fair to our own people. They are the people who have kept communities and rural areas going for generations. I thank the Cathaoirleach. I know it has been a long evening but I stuck it out to make my contribution.