Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

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

Mr. Billy Cronin:

As Mr. Mulvihill said, nitrogen flows easily through the soil. With phosphorus, it is primarily over-land flow. If over-land flow can be stopped or filtered going into the river, that will sort out the phosphorus. It is more visible. You can put in silt traps and so on. As Mr. Mulvihill stated, the EIP project is highly utilised for solving phosphorus.

I want to get back to a point in relation to data. Farmers need data to exact change. Every farmer has a carbon footprint today. A marginal abatement cost curve, MACC, has been developed, so that we can move with the science, implement and trust the science and reduce the carbon footprint. Everyone has a target for 2030. Dairygold has a target for 0.7 kg of CO2-----