Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

Ireland's water quality is the envy of the western world, attested to by no less an organisation than the Earth Institute of Columbia University and the Environment School at Yale University in the US.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland the 2006 Environmental Performance Index placed Ireland tenth out of 133 countries for environmental health and 23rd for water quality. That is amazing. Ireland is top of the European champions league for water quality, with Norway and Switzerland, and the consensus at Davos was that our water could not be cleaner. What is all the fuss about? The nitrates directive is putting the livelihoods and viability of thousands of farmers at risk with its overkill insistence that we should have even purer water than the purest in Europe. Many of the 22 countries rated above us in the water quality league are among the poorest, with little or no economic activity that would be instrumental in polluting their rivers, in other words, we beggar the farming community to achieve virtually unachievable cleaner water standards. The EPA water quality report also showed that 98% of 301 Irish sites tested met or exceeded the EU standard. The reality has been totally overlooked by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in its anxiety to penalise progressive farmers.

The nitrates directive is also being stuffed down the throats of Irish farmers for whom it is least suited. Ireland is caught in a measure that was designed as a cure-all directive for the community in Europe. Its implications are massive for farming families who cannot afford a 20% drop in income. For farmers who have kids to send to school, it is grossly unfair.

Every effort must be made to ensure that Brussels does not ruin Ireland's unique agrifood contribution to the EU, of high grass production and an unusually long growing season. For most of the year Ireland's conditions are excellent for grass growth and stocking.

While I must wrap up here, I understand that the overwhelming majority of the EU's 25 member states have failed to incorporate the directive into national legislation as it was intended by Brussels. We see this in all aspects of European life, where we take every European directive to the letter of the law whereas other neighbouring countries do not. I would call for a deferral of the nitrates regulations to enable a compromise solution to emerge and to enable a proper and comprehensive evaluation to take place.

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