Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Tim LombardTim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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In a few moments. I will start my questions, if that is okay with the Senator. I thank him. It is great to have a few Cork people here. It is great to have a few Corkonians in the audience. It makes me feel more at home straightaway.

BirdWatch Ireland made an interesting presentation regarding its members' view on cover crops. We can see the map published by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and where there are issues of water quality shown by its testing. There is a red map on page 27. I married a woman from Cloyne and I know east Cork well. It is big tillage country. There is not much dairy. Some has come in over recent years but it is still big tillage country. Many people from my part of the world go down there and rent via conacre. In east Cork, tillage is a real driver, especially in places such as Cloyne. We have heard the idea that there could be bad water quality or an effect on wildlife. Where is the balance here? Is it balance that we go into pasture? Is it balance that we have stubble and potentially poor water quality? Where is the balance in our witnesses' argument in that respect? I know that part of the world, including Ballymaloe and all these other places, like the back of my hand. It is tillage country but it is also red. On the EPA map, it is as red as red can be. Where do we get the balance?