Dr. Sean McCarthy:

We need to be careful that this does not distract from the conversation or the action that needs to happen around slurry storage on each individual farm. Each individual farm is unique in terms of soil type and in terms of the milking system they run into the winter. Each farm is unique and has unique risks regarding impacting water quality. We need to be careful that we do not distract from that and in terms of the feedstocks that need to be generated for the AD. If it is grass that is going into the AD, it has to be very high quality. Nutrients will be required to generate that feedstock. What we are seeing is that there will be more opportunity to improve nutrient management on farms. We need to get a lot better in terms of nutrient management before we expand our land area with focus on more nutrients to produce feedstocks for AD.

The other thing I want to comment on is the actions regarding the pool of money available to farmers. We should reflect on the ASSAP programme, the engagement we had with farmers and the opportunities that were identified in terms of actions that need to be taken on farm to minimise the risk of a negative impact on water quality. We are piloting the new EIP, which has a €50 million pool of money, in our catchment area with a group of farmers and we have had a very encouraging level of engagement. The process needs to be streamlined as quickly as possible. We need to make sure this money moves into these farmers' hands, so it can be spent wisely and appropriately under the guidance of our water quality specialist teams across the country. In respect of actions that we know can have a real impact relatively quickly, we need to make sure that happens.