Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 January 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Michael Moroney:

We believe that it is. The tax strategy group produced its report in September and it also recommended that. On that basis, we also suggested that in the Form 11 tax return form applicable to everybody who is self-employed etc. at the end of each tax year where people check the box to say they were farming, they should be required to show a figure for diesel consumption. That would indicate if it was consistent with, for example, a 60-cow or 100-cow herd or if significantly more diesel was consumed. We felt it would be important to establish the use levels. We are looking forward to further interaction with the Department of Finance officials and we hope that they will not just listen - we believe they have listened to us - but we hope they will take action.