Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will go back to what the Minister said when he linked phosphorous emissions to urban waste. There is no apparent correlation between urban centres and phosphorous sediment in County Clare. The big urban centres in the county are Ennis where the River Fergus drains southwards towards the Shannon Estuary, and Shannon and Sixmilebridge in the south. They are the second and third biggest towns now. The map indicates however, that the emissions are in north Clare, which is an area where there is a lot of forestry. There has been a huge degradation in the Graney catchment area, where there is certainly agriculture, but it is not an area of intensive agriculture by any stretch. Scarriff is at the end of it but that is the only big settlement on the river. I am not hearing anything from the Department about any plans to do anything in forestry. Will the witnesses speak about that? I am not saying farmers and agriculture do not have a role to play; they do. However, we must look at the hugely ambitious forestry targets. I cannot see how they will be met, yet it is a type of forestry practice that appears to be environmentally disadvantageous. It is reflected not only in a loss of biodiversity, which we are not here to discuss, but in an impact on our water quality and the water table.

Is there a plan to address that, and what is that plan?