Mr. Tadhg Buckley:

The catchment programme has been spoken about. It is a real asset because it is hugely beneficial. It is an intense level of testing. It would not be possible to replicate that level of testing nationwide, not that the Senator is suggesting that. One of the things I see as a bit of a frustration and that I hear about a lot from our members - I am sure the ICMSA is similar - is that many farmers want to know what is the quality of the river on their farms. Water quality is hugely important to everyone, farmers and non-farmers. No one wants to see the water decline significantly in quality because it is what the whole community uses. It is very difficult to find the results on catchments.iebecause, in fairness, it is more designed from a research perspective than for lay people. We need to have some way to allow farmers to see those results so they can see what the status of their local stream or river is, see the latest results and be able to understand what the trend is. At the moment they are in the dark because it is difficult to get access to that data. It would certainly be useful.

I sit on the water quality group with Mr. Carroll and Mr. Drennan was on it in the past. We spoke about that in the group. We asked whether a method could be developed to allow people to see what the story is with the rivers on their farms and what the readings are. At the moment it is difficult to get access to that.