Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and congratulate Deputy Naughten on bringing it forward. I also congratulate him on the work he is doing in this area since he was appointed Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture and food.

I wish to deal with the nitrates directive, an issue of extreme concern in my area. There is considerable concern and expense involved in meeting the criteria which, though not fully outlined, are developing. While many small family farms have been under pressure and have gone out of existence over the years, this directive will cause further numbers of farmers to leave the dairy industry. In the area of Mountcollins alone, there are only approximately ten suppliers left where formerly there were well over 100. The move away from family farming and the drop in incomes is significant and has severe implications for the rural areas of County Limerick.

The nitrates directive currently scapegoats farmers. Many obvious sources of enrichment that are not farming related are ignored. The directive is excessive and will do nothing to significantly reduce pollution of waterways in Ireland. Farmers already deal with the risks of pollution. The code of good farming practice and the involvement of numbers of farmers in REPs ensure that farmers conform to best practice environmentally.

The Department of Agriculture and Food has stated that the current proposals to the European Commission were rejected, mainly because they failed to create binding rules for farmers. The prohibited period for spreading fertiliser needed to be extended, the minimum storage capacity needed to be increased and clear rules needed to be established on nutrient management by reference to crop needs. Pigs, poultry and dairy production will be severely restricted in the areas designated as vulnerable. The nitrates directive is to be used only to correct and prevent enrichment problems caused by agriculture. However, some 8% of the national land area or 12% of the agricultural area consists of soils that are no more prone to NO3-N leaching losses. That means that waters in only 8% of the national land area may be vulnerable to enrichment by agriculture. The establishment of an excessive and draconian farming control regime in the State under the nitrates directive is totally inappropriate and unfair to farmers in 92% of the land area where the risk to waters from agriculture is acknowledged to be non-existent under good farming practice.

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