Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion

Mr. Jack Nolan:

We do. The principle here is that some farmers are renting commonage or land far away from their holdings just to dilute their stocking rate and increase their chemical fertiliser allowance. It is a proposal, and we have received a lot of feedback on it. It will have to be looked at more carefully to avoid causing extra bureaucracy for the type of people the Senator mentioned, which we do not want. We do not want to impinge on a genuine farmer. We do not want any proof of farming or the like. We are considering exactly what the best approach is here.