Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It affects the livelihood of everybody who is in derogation, and that is the real challenge here. It should be no surprise that the Commission had that map when its representative met with the committee because the map was required by the Commission to identify the areas that would have failed the test which had been set to decide whether farmers could hold the 250 kg N/ha or would have to move to 220 kg N/ha. From 30 June the position has been that those areas affected by the red map, according to the derogation we have, would be the areas that would be in 220 kg N/ha under the current derogation. In my engagement with the Commission then, it had indicated that it may be possible to have some minor amendment to that based on data. We are now engaging further to clarify that with the Commission and to bring absolute certainty to that by the end of this month. We have to be honest, however, that that will mean only very minor adjustments to the map. Under the current derogation, and from 30 June, it is those areas that would have been in red on that map which we forwarded to the Commission which would be impacted by the 220 kg N/ha.