Mr. Bernard Harris:

To reiterate a couple of points, the regulation does not distinguish between the family farm, for example, in respect of its compliance with the regulation relating to 170 kg per hectare and whether the farmer has a derogation of 250 kg. We can look to the number of public consultations, as the Senator will be aware, around the nitrates action programme, and this action has been there nearly two years now in terms of putting it out there to farmers and saying this is the direction we are asked to go. From the person who met the Commission, where the request came around banding, it was a simple ask: have you no big or small cows in Ireland? Why are they all the same? The approach, therefore, was to evaluate the impact scientifically. Essentially, banding equalises scientifically the impact of those cows based on 170 kg or 250 kg. There is no doubt that implementation is a challenge. It has been signalled for a good number of years that implementation will be from next year. There is more work to be done in developing the system to implement it, but that is certainly work we are doing at present.