Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí eile as a gcuid ama a roinnt liom. This motion calls into question a general lack of effectiveness on the part of the Minister for Agriculture and Food. It is fundamental that we take stock of farming in this country and this motion is an important opportunity to do this.

After a parent, the work of a farmer is probably the most important job a person can do. Food is something which nobody can live for very long without and its production is of the utmost importance. There are similarities between being a parent and being a farmer. Both need money, both must plan beyond the life of any Government and both are sometimes under pressure to the extent that it is hard for them to know how they will manage in the weeks to come. For both farmers and parents one thing that is certain is that nitrates are a cancer-causing poison. It is not possible to live with nitrates in any significant quantities.

Thankfully, the Environmental Protection Agency's reports on water pollution show that we have better water quality than in most European countries. In spite of that, however, there is still a worrying trend. Between a quarter and a third of drinking water from lakes and rivers is polluted and a high level of nitrates has been found in drinking water in 13 counties. In 2004, the European Court of Justice found Ireland guilty on every count of breaching the nitrates directive.

I do not blame farmers for most of this problem. We should remember that local authorities have responsibilities in this regard. Many companies contribute to the problem through discharge to receiving waters. There has been a 15-year delay in implementing the directive, which is forcing us to adopt what are, essentially, panic measures. Teagasc has been caught up in that panic response because it has been told to come up with the data, but in such haste that they do not stand up to the scrutiny they are now coming under. It strikes me that if the nitrates directive had been called the arsenic directive, we would have probably got action without 15 years of foot dragging.

Somehow people think nitrates are like nitrogen or oxygen — part of the air we breathe. The Government motion to absolve the Minister is no defence for what amounts to criminal neglect when we take into account the poisonous character of nitrates. It begs the question of why measures were not put in place in advance of the guillotine coming down. The measures that were put in place are very little and very late. Every county should have anaerobic digesters. The figures for organic production should be much higher at this stage, given that it is at 4% in Wales and 11% in Austria. We are still languishing around 1% and if we get to 1%, the Minister will think she is doing great.

A previous speaker referred to farmers leaving the land. In 1997 farmers comprised 9.6% of workers and in 2002 they were 7% of the total workforce. The general infrastructure of farming is being made ever more intensive. According to 2001 figures, 700 abattoirs closed in the previous decade.

The Minister must face the charges being brought against her in terms of the sugar beet industry. It was my colleague, Councillor Mary White, who went to find an ethanol producing plant to try to provide some hope for farmers left destitute by the closure of the sugar beet factory in Carlow. It is my party's Councillor Mary White, not Senator Mary White of the Minister's party, to whom I refer in this regard.

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