Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the speakers for coming in. I received a text message this morning from a young farmer who would not ordinarily contact a politician. He told me as much. However, he told me it was time for us to stand up for rural Ireland. He is one of 19 farmers in County Longford who is availing of the derogation. He sees it as critical to his future. I classify him as an extremely conscientious farmer. His farm looks immaculate to the townie I am. It looks as though he is doing everything possible. He has made all the investments and is passionate about his community. He says the derogation is as it was most succinctly put by our Chair in the examples he gave. Many of us take our lead from the Chair. I appreciate what Mr. Callanan said about this being a decision that will be made on an environmental and not economic basis. However, the economic impact of this is shattering for Ireland.

It is easy for Europe in this instance to say it is made on an environmental basis, but in several instances decisions have been made in Europe on an economic basis. We do not have to look too far back into the recent past to see it doing that.

Similarly, it is easy for Belgium and Holland to walk away from the derogation. As Mr. Callanan rightly said, they have options. The profile of our industry is unique, as is the profile of the farming community here. Farmers have definitely embraced the fifth nitrates action programme. It challenged them probably more than any other initiative but farmers stood up to that. We see daily the scale of the investment they are making. I am in no doubt that the 19 farms in County Longford are supporting a wider community. They are feeding into a large processing sector that sustains several provincial towns. It is fair to say that rural Ireland sees this as a line in the sand. Increasingly, what farmers and their neighbours are telling us is that rather than an arbitrary flicking of the switch, which is what Europe seems to be insisting on, the dairy sector needs to be allowed to continue what we would all agree is a radical journey of change that it has enthusiastically undertaken.

I have a key question for Mr. Callanan - it is probably more for Mr. Massey - on the negotiations. I know they are both engaging with the committee and have provided some additional clarity on the issue in response to the Chairman. My neighbours would argue that we are not sufficiently getting across the impact this threat will pose to our rural communities. In particular, we have not communicated how such an arbitrary decision will affect families, communities, schools and everything that goes with them.

I appreciate that the starting point of the Department is probably to reach a compromise. Have the officials articulated the impact this will have economically and socially on families in Ireland?