Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It was an anomaly that I do not want to see happen again going forward. It was by virtue of the fact that farmers did not have to put their entire holding into ACRES. It was the farm that Teagasc was using for the evening part of the day course. We were in the field that was in ACRES and the watercourse was fenced off. The cattle had been taken off that field by either the first or last day of October. They were moved to the field on the other side of the watercourse, which was not in ACRES and was not fenced. While I do not like to be overcritical, we have to able to avoid situations like that, especially when the watercourse in question is in the one ownership. If it were two different farms, I would say we cannot force the second fellow to come in but the fellow on this side is able to account for it.. It was not a river, it had been drained but it was a good watercourse. Both sides of the watercourse were owned by the same man but only one side was in ACRES. He had got funding through ACRES to fence it off. The cattle were not allowed into it but once he moved them to the other side of the water, that was not doing anything for the water quality.