Mr. John Keane:

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for the questions. The first element relates to the availability from Russia, that being stopped overnight and the costs incurred. I should say that I sit on the national fodder and food security committee. Some of the information that came to us related to sourcing suppliers following the limited availability of Russian supplies last year. People sourcing fertiliser from Ireland had to move from their traditional supply routes to routes from Asia and North Africa. If one is not a player in those markets traditionally or has no loyalty built up in them and is coming in, fairly new to them, since we are a small importing nation, the reality is that we will not get the first boatload delivered to the country. That is the information we were given about why we had a scarcity, if the Deputy wants to call it that, and the price increase. We have the availability now because we have got to those markets, the boatloads are being filled, and we have access to those areas in North Africa and Asia too.

I accept the point about the committee and its inability to investigate. That is fair enough.

Regarding bought-in fertiliser purchases, this has arisen as part of the national fodder and food security committee. I am working off the top of my head on this because I did not bring my diary with me on the walk today. I can supply it afterwards if the Chair wants. Our understanding is that in the first quarter of 2023's fertiliser year, which is October, November and December of 2022, there was a 25% increase in fertiliser purchases but that quarter only represents 4% of annual sales. Not a huge volume of fertiliser was purchased compared with the annual amount for years gone by. We understand that the CSO data have to be compiled and the committee has asked for that. Anecdotally, hearing from farmers in January, we understand there was a significant increase in early January. We have been told by fertiliser companies that from the middle of February until a number of weeks ago, the amount of fertiliser being purchased was almost nil.

Deputy Fitzmaurice asked about the different types of fertiliser available in bags. We have heard the same. We have been told it is not necessarily a labelling issue and is more about the different standards that are applied in different regions where fertiliser is manufactured. We understand that is a particular legislative requirement in some of the new markets that we have accessed in the last years or since the war in Ukraine. I do not think it is anybody's fault in particular but there is a communication issue. Traditionally farmers would get an 18-6-12 bag. Work needs to be done on communication.

The last matter related to the liming programme. We are told there is an oversubscription. Some €8 million has been assigned to the scheme. It was stated that it would support 500,000 tonnes of lime, which is €16 a tonne. If one looks at the Teagasc annual soil sample results from 2022, they state that 39% of the soil samples that were taken had a pH of lower than 6.5, for purposes of lime requirement. To bring that soil pH back up, one would have to use 2 tonnes per acre. There are 4 million ha in the country after taking out the commonage. If one takes 39% of those 4 million ha, that gives 1.5 million ha. If one is adding 5 tonnes per hectare, that comes to 3 million tonnes, which is six times what is currently assigned at €16 per tonne.