Mr. Bill Callanan:

It would be incorrect if it is in any way suggested in our presentation that the reduction or removal of the derogation will solve water quality issues; it will not. Let us be clear on that. It is a quite complicated area. It was alluded to in earlier interventions that the reality of soil type, how management practices are applied, intensity and different types all have to be taken into account. For example, under the agricultural catchments programme, there are two sites in Wexford that are five or six miles apart. One is very free-draining, not heavily stocked in terms of irrigation farming and has a much higher nitrate level than the other, which is quite intensively farmed with livestock from a derogation point of view. Soil type is predominantly driving that. It is not as simple as suggesting that a single sweep of a pen can resolve this. It is about taking the right actions and the right measures in the right place. That is the evolution that our policy, under the Minister's direction, has tried to deal with, by using such tools as water quality mapping, as the Deputy stated. For example, the targeted agricultural measures map on page 21 identifies where nitrogen pressure and phosphorous pressure are arising. Entry for applicants under the agri-environment scheme is prioritised based on water quality. The actions they take are determined by delivery of the objectives of improving water quality and the integration of the Department's policy with the knowledge we have, whether from EPA mapping, water quality or elsewhere. All sectors, including livestock, arable and forestry sectors, have to contribute to that achievement, as the Minister has stated, based on taking the right action in the right place.