Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask Mr. Moroney a question. We are discussing climate change and low-emission slurry spreading. There is a report from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on anaerobic digestion. Once the digestate goes through an anaerobic digester at temperature, it is classed as an organic fertiliser, which will be helpful this year. A report done by Teagasc, NUIG, UCD and the Department recommended spreading it via splash plate or low-emission slurry spreading, which we would call the dribble bar. However, there seems to be confusion in some parts of the country around digestates and a belief that it has to be put into the ground using the disc injector system. Has the association encountered this problem in the interpretation by councils of how slurry is to be spread? Is it a worrying development? If we start down the road of slitting slurry in using a disc injector, we will be looking at a tractor of nearly twice the horsepower. A general contractor's tractor might be 180 or 200 horsepower, but if the ground is tight, nearly twice that amount would be needed. According to the report, if there are shallow soils, there would also be a danger of the slurry going down through the ground more quickly.