John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

We all want better water quality. Our agriculture sector is very important to the Irish economy, for jobs and exports, and we have to ensure water quality is improved. The EPA report published today contains some positives but it is not where we want it to be. As I said, there are improvements in the nitrates piece and phosphorous within that, which need to be built upon. The number of actions that have been carried out by farmers and the huge investment that has been put in by farmers around the country will show in the next report when it is completed by the EPA. Part of that is ensuring that we have adequate and sufficient slurry storage on farm. I am trying to remove red tape and things across all exempted development to try to simplify the planning process by removing things that do not require to be in there. There are protections for exempted development. For example, if it requires an EIA or an AA or is in a Natura 2000 site, the exemptions do not apply and planning has to be applied for in the normal way. These are the safeguards in place that I believe are sufficient and proportionate and will ensure that we get the balance right here, because that is what is most important.