Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also know Mr. Carr and Mr. Farrell and I know some of the rest of them less well. I might not go as far as Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, but I have said publicly for a long time that there is a lot of beating farmers with the stick over environmental issues. My late father used to talk about the original rural environment protection scheme, REPS. Approximately 98% of farmers took part in that. From day one, farmers and farming families had a huge consciousness about the environment. I grew up on a small farm myself, as Mr. Feeney would know. We were very good with environmental issues, like all of our neighbours. Litter was not allowed around the place. There was no food waste. There were many good things except there was a lot of poverty for farmers.

I do not expect everybody to answer the questions, but I will be brief. We had a session recently relating to the nitrates directives and An Taisce made a statement that the starting point for any discussion on nitrates and the nitrates derogation must be an acknowledgement that nitrate from dairy farmers is negatively impacting on the quality of both surface and groundwater and we need a different approach to mitigate that impact. I have had running battles before with An Taisce over planning. Do those people ever meet face to face with the witnesses or do they look for a meeting before they make public statements on an issue like that? Second, in countries that are down to 170 kg N/ha, have we any feedback on the damage that has been done to the agricultural sector in those countries? From an Irish perspective we have a lot of intense farming, and 170 kg N/ha would not be a good situation to be in. Third, I see group water schemes up and down this country, mainly backed by farmers, doing fantastic work and getting environmental awards. Maybe some of the witnesses are members of them. Is this ever taken into account? It is not talked about enough. In the west and midlands, in particular, as Mr. Feeney and Mr. McNamara would know, there are many group water schemes constantly working on improving the water quality in their areas. I think one group in County Roscommon recently got a national award for the work it was doing. Is that ever taken into account? I presume many would know or are involved. There is also the challenge of a wet climate. This is the most worrying thing when talking about pollution. We have to get more money to give farmers the wherewithal to put in place extra storage. It is a must. Last year, how many farmers had their cattle out? I would say they did not have them out for four or five months. I am thinking of our small farm at home. You just could not put them out. There is grass and fields at the moment and you could not put cattle out on them. Our climate is definitely getting wetter. How do we deal with that? It is important that we get extra financing, up to 80 or 90%, to enable farmers put on that extra storage. I know there is something at the moment through TAMS. I will leave it there for this evening.