Mr. Shane Herlihy:

Absolutely. It is very hard to draw sweeping conclusions based on annual averages because there is so much complexity in the system. That has been evident in the Teagasc research in particular. A lot has been written on that. There is huge variability. Take a river sample, which is what we are talking about on page 11 which looks at fresh-water rivers. With annual samples, there will be samples collected in the winter when there will be a lot of surplus run-off and then there are samples that might be collected in the summer where there will be a lot of groundwater base flow coming in and then in spring and autumn there will be more of a mix based on what the weather is like. It all looks pretty stable to me which stands to reason when one thinks about it; yes, we have had more cows but there have been increased regulations which have kept this in check and there is a natural lag time for an impact on the land surface to filter into what we are measuring in the river. It looks pretty stable to me and that is what I would expect unless there were some drastic land-use changes. Even then, one would expect it would take time for that to filter through into what one was measuring. I think that makes a real challenge, particularly with the policy pressure we have now in terms of timing to show improvements in water quality for the water framework directive. That is a significant pressure that we are under. However, it is important to note that Ireland is not the only country that will be struggling to achieve good water status under the water framework directive. Most European member states will have difficulties.