Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 14 February 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion

Mr. John Enright:

We are members of the European Milk Board, which has dairy farmers from across all member states in Europe, and we meet them regularly. Mr. Drennan is right there is no animosity towards derogation at this stage. They have a completely different system of production in general. They are indoors systems based on grains as opposed to grass. They do not require the derogation in many cases because they have a much bigger tillage system and sector. They can export the slurry. They are tillage farmers, in many cases.

As Mr. Buckley mentioned, we need a Government strategy to make anaerobic digestion economically viable. The planning system needs to work for it as well. We are having difficulty getting planning permission for a slatted tank. We need to get the planning system working properly.

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