Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For Dr. Ó hUallacháin, the cleanest river in Ireland is the Islands River. About ten diggers cleaned it 12 to 14 years ago. It is one of the best rivers in Ireland. To anyone who talks rubbish about cleaning rivers and says that things will not come back, I say that rivers were cleaned for years and all the different things came back. This myth has to be got rid of. If you do not allow water to flow, you are going to have problems and backlogs.

On the derogation, the feeling, and what we are hearing, is that there is a fair possibility that it will not stop at Christmas and that there will be a two-year thing. I understand what the officials are facing on the habitats directive side of matters. It would probably take four or five years to do what is required on the basis of what they are looking for. If that happens, what will be the strings attached? Can Mr. Callanan explain this to me. There is a change in Europe at the moment. I do not understand it, but Mr. Callanan will know about it. I think it is called RENURE - manure redone. Is that giving scope for something? Is it that we are not counting the slurry in the tank now or what is it? A few years ago, the considerations relating to year-old cattle were changed. The weight for heifers came down to about 55 kg, while it went up to 60 kg for bull weanlings. What was that based on? Everyone is on about nitrates, but no one is talking about phosphates at all. The spread of the latter is caused by sewage treatment plants blasting out stuff into the water in the west of Ireland. We cannot distinguish between human sewage and cattle slurry for phosphorous. The west of Ireland is down as an area that is high in phosphorous. Farmers are being crippled for a reason that the EPA and Irish Water are not tackling. How can we separate that and get accurate figures?