Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Work is ongoing and there has been good engagement in that regard. There is no agreement yet or plan as such. The funding would not be a barrier to that were we to reach an agreement. We would be able to accommodate that and work around it if an agreement or decision was made. There is, however, continuing engagement in that regard.

Going back to the Cathaoirleach's previous point regarding slurry storage, I agree that storage is key to improving water quality. We have very significant grants in place under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS: 40% for slurry storage and up to 60% for young farmers and for female farmers. The challenge is that we do not have state aid cover or, indeed, the Common Agricultural Policy either. Schemes cannot pay for compliance where somebody is not up to the level they need to be at.

Two budgets ago, 14 or 16 months ago, we introduced accelerated capital allowances, which can be availed of for farmers in that category to come up to storage. It certainly makes economic sense with regard to having sufficient storage because it means people get the proper utilisation and efficiency from the organic nutrients. There is that side of it. It is also just a necessity.

One of the changes I made shortly after I became Minister, with regard to the existing TAMS, was to make sure that people were matching their slurry storage capacity to their farm, if their farm was growing. I made it a condition that if people were to apply for TAMS, for any measure within TAMS they would have to ensure they had sufficient slurry storage for their stocking rate to be able to qualify for the scheme. We need to make sure that people work that out in step so that sufficient storage is grown to meet the stocking need. Those accelerated capital allowances were an important step, but there is a state aid barrier to being able to provide grant aid for something that requires compliance. There is not state aid cover for that.