Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I send my best wishes and those of the committee to Rebecca Walsh who is part of our secretariat and who had a fairly serious car crash at the weekend. We wish her a speedy recovery and hope she will be back to work as soon as it is feasible and that her injuries will mend. I also wish Denis Drennan and Eamon Carroll the best in their terms as president and deputy president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA. It is their first time here at an Oireachtas meeting since they took up their respective positions so I wish both of them the very best of luck.

I remind members and witnesses to turn off their mobile phones. Before we begin, I bring the following to their attention: witnesses giving evidence within the parliamentary precincts are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they give to the committee. This means that they have a full defence in any defamation action in respect of anything they say at the meeting. However, witnesses are expected not to abuse this privilege and may be directed by the Chair to cease giving evidence on an issue. Witnesses should follow the direction of the Chair in this regard and are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that, as is reasonable, no adverse commentary should be made against an identifiable third person or entity. Witnesses who want to give evidence from locations outside the parliamentary precincts are asked to note that they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as witnesses giving evidence from within the parliamentary precincts. They may consider it appropriate to take legal advice in this regard. Privilege against defamation does not apply to the publication by witnesses, outside of the proceedings held by the committee, of any matters arising from the proceedings.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

Parliamentary privilege is considered to apply to utterances of members participating online at a committee meeting when that participation is within the parliamentary precincts. Members may not participate online in a public meeting from outside the parliamentary precincts and any attempt to do so will result in said member having his or her online access removed.

The purpose of today's meeting is examination of compliance with the nitrates directive and implications for Ireland. At this session, the committee will hear from representatives of the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, and the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA. We are joined from the IFA by its president, Mr. Francie Gorman, Mr. John Murphy, environment and rural affairs chair and Mr. Tadhg Buckley, director of policy; and from ICMSA, its president, Mr. Denis Drennan, deputy president, Mr. Eamon Carroll, and Mr. John Enright, general secretary. They are all very welcome to today's committee meeting. Their opening statements have been circulated to members. I will allow each organisation five minutes to read its opening statement and then we will proceed to a question and answer session.

This is the first of a series of meetings on the nitrates derogation. The committee took the decision to hold a series of meetings on nitrates and the implications for the country. We intend to compile a report at the end of those meetings. On 1 January, the country dropped from 250 kg N/ha to 220 kg N/ha and there is serious concern and anxiety about the review coming at the end of 2025 and that the country be in the best position to put its case forward for the retention of the 220 organic nitrogen limit. The committee intends to devote significant time during this Oireachtas session to compiling that report as we feel it is a very important piece of work to put together a viable case for this country's retention of its derogation. Our guests are the first of a series of witnesses we will have here. We will have five or six meetings and then we will compile a report that the committee will take to the Commissioner in Brussels. We look forward to hearing what both organisations have to say on the subject. I will ask Mr. Gorman to go first and then Mr. Drennan.