Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy is factually incorrect, as always. He has pre-empted one issue which he considers to be more important than another. The nitrates directive is not within my ambit; it is within the ambit of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. That said, I am acutely aware, as are my colleagues, of the implications of the nitrates action plan. Perhaps we should have taken some of these concerns on board ten years ago. Deputy Crawford can nod away, but his party was in Government during that time as well and it did not do very much either to try and bring together the farming fraternities on this issue.

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