Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I shall continue from where I left off. I was talking about the fact that references were made in the debate on Second Stage on the additional administrative burden that might be placed on merchants and farmers regarding the fertiliser register. I have been acutely aware of this issue at all stages of the development of the project. I believe that the system, as it has been designed and developed, will be as simple and easy as it is possible to do. Most, if not all farmers, will only need to register once on my Department's online portal agfood.ie. So agfood.iewill operate the system. Farmers need only interact with the system once a year after that to declare any stocks of fertiliser on their farm.

The submission of fertiliser sales data to the national fertiliser database will, in the main, be done by co-ops and merchants. The two options of an automated option and a manual option have been provided. This will allow businesses to choose the best option for them in light of the number of fertiliser transactions that they conduct.

On Second Stage, concerns were raised about data protection. My Department has taken steps to ensure that the data collected under this Bill complies with all aspects of the general data protection regulation, GDPR, rules and other data protection requirements. The robust data sharing provisions in the legislation will allow the specific sharing of data with other bodies to achieve environmental and sustainability targets. The provisions will be fully in line with GDPR and other data protection legislation.

Recognising the significant volume of fertiliser sales, I am committed to an administratively simple system for both fertiliser economic operators and professional fertiliser end users, which supports compliance and the accurate recording of fertiliser transactions in a national fertiliser database. Following the roll-out of the national fertiliser database, my Department will ensure appropriate risk-based controls along the supply chain to verify compliance with the regulatory requirements and the accuracy of information being uploaded to the database.

In conclusion, I again thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to debate this Bill. I look forward to the committee members supporting this important legislation and discussing the amendments.