Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To tell the honest to God's truth, I am not that happy with the response from the Department. Under the nitrates regulation that has been proposed and the review of the nitrates action plan we will potentially go down from 250 kg/ha to 220 kg/ha in the red areas. That will effectively mean a reduction in the herd, which was not mentioned in the response. Those figures need to be clarified. I propose that we go back to the Department and ask for clarification on what it believes will be the reduction in the national herd because of the reduction in nitrates from 250 kg/ha to 220 kg/ha based on the map. That would give us an indication of what is going to happen. That is not a voluntary reduction, it is mandatory.