Mr. Bill Callanan:

No. Continued access to the derogation is Government policy. From my perspective I cover both sides so there are a lot of mitigation actions available that a farmer can take in the absence of derogation, whether it is moving slurry, or the procurement of additional land, etc. If you look at the economic analysis we had done by Teagasc on the impact of the loss of derogation, reduction in numbers is probably the most costly at individual farm level. It is least likely to be taken up by individual farms. It will be difficult to establish if it would have a direct impact on livestock numbers. It may have on individual farms, but not at national level.