Mr. Denis Drennan:

Senator Lombard is touching on a valuable point, if the information is there. We have a blanket regulatory body across the whole country. If you split the country, in the north-west of the country, generally, phosphorus is a problem; in the south-east of the country, nitrogen is a problem. It is mainly due to soil type because you have freer draining land in the south east and you have heavier land in the north west. What happens as a country? We have the same phosphorus regulations for the whole country and we have the same nitrogen regulations for the whole country. What we really need to get to is that if each catchment has a different problem or a different issue or if something is happening there, we need the right measure in the right place on the right catchment.

The other point, while I have the floor, is the eutrophic thing is judged at transitional waters near the estuary. If something goes wrong near the estuary, somebody who is, as Mr. Buckley said, 100 miles or 150 miles further upstream in pristine water is still caught by the derogation cut. It does not make sense. That is what is really frustrating farmers. Farmers are there thinking what is the point in them doing this right in their area, even though they want to do it right, if something that happens 100 miles downstream will snooker them.