Mr. Sean McNamara:

The biggest problem we see as farmers is the county councils and their inspections of farmers. The county councils themselves are the biggest polluters, not the farmers. A lot of the raw sewage from most towns is running into rivers, streams and lakes. We see it ourselves. I am not that far away from a town. I see that the plan is not working. It is just going down the rivers and that is it, especially with the wet weather. It is just running down the river. Before the councils have the cheek to come out to have similar inspections of farmers, let them get their houses in order first, them and the EIP. That is all I can say. There is no point people coming out and torturing farmers, telling them they have this and that wrong, and they have to do this, that and the other. Let them get their own houses in order first. I could say 99% of farmers are compliant enough. Something can happen in the wet weather through no fault of the farmer. Most farmers are fully compliant. I turn to wastewater treatment and sewage plants. Uisce Éireann has been getting serious money put into it for the past ten years. I do not think it is any further on than it was ten years ago, whereas farmers are getting nothing and are almost doing it out of their own pockets.