Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

Is it not the case that the closed periods, storage issues and so on were put forward on the basis of the scientific evidence available to Mr. Denis Brosnan? That case has already been put forward. It now appears that both the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government are scaling back from that and are looking at extended closed and storage periods. The Minister does not appear to be prepared to support her own scientific evidence that formed the basis of the proposals put forward in the first instance. She now appears to be more preoccupied with rural development measures than the nitrates directive. Is the Minister prepared to sacrifice the nitrates directive to get a good basis for the negotiation of the rural development budget?

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