Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There was a case highlighted to us the other evening where a farmer was fined in 2023 relating to something that happened on his farm in 2019. It was to do with the level of phosphorous in the feed he was feeding to cattle. It was very intricate and complicated. In a case like that, a few different witnesses might be needed. It was a big bone of contention that four years after the event he could get a letter in the post saying he were being fined for his practice in 2019. Those rules on the level of phosphorous in feed and so on are very complicated and hard enough for any individual farmer to calculate. That was just an individual case that was highlighted with us here last week when we met with the farm organisations. As regards a technical case like that, this should be left open. I do not think anyone will abuse it. Too many around the table will only confuse the issue, so not to be too definitive-----