Mr. Pat Murphy:

I do not think it is. There are a couple of issues. Obviously, it would be preferable to have an aligned system and there is some discussion north of the Border of bringing something in. However, the likelihood of it being aligned timewise is very low. The provision is there, and the Deputy made the point that there is quite a bit of cross-Border trade in fertiliser, based on price or whatever. That is normal business. In the current proposals, the merchants here in the South will register the product so there will be no effective onus on the farmer to register it. In the initial set-up and the short-term operation, the onus will be on the farmer who imports to enter that into his or her own system. That is fine and I doubt it will be a terribly onerous task. I think it can work quite well. I do not see it as being a major problem with the system. However, as the Deputy points out, if there was an aligned system North and South, it would be easier to operate from a farmers' perspective than having different regulations and operation.