Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

This motion was not tabled lightly but in response to sustained negative targeting of farmers by the Government over the past year, leaving them in genuine fear for their existence.

The sugar sector has been in turmoil since the devastating deal the Minister tried to pass off as a victory last year. She adopted a sell-out approach throughout the debate on the future of the sugar industry, and for the first time in the history of farming negotiations, the EU and the Government practically colluded in wiping out a viable industry. Driving through part of Laois last weekend and seeing the familiar sight of the sugar beet on the side of the road, I was struck, as, I am sure, many colleagues would be, by the fact that something that was commonplace across Laois and Offaly may very well cease to be a part of rural life in our area.

The Minister has still offered no clarification on the compensation package and has yet to make a commitment regarding how much compensation farmers will receive. She failed to side with the farmer at the EU talks in adopting her sell-out approach. She must now make a commitment that she will not let them down again on the compensation package. She must stand by the beet-growers this time.

Not content with closing down the beet sector, she decided to move on to the pig and poultry sectors and all other farming areas too, in partnership with her colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche. There may be attempts to lay all the blame at his door, but it is she who is in charge of the Department of Agriculture and Food and whom farmers expect to represent their view. In any event, there is still the thorny issue of collective Cabinet responsibility enshrined in our Constitution, so no one in the Government can wash his or her hands of this.

These regulations will virtually destroy the pig and poultry sectors, and will have a detrimental impact on our dairy and beef industries. We have always been told that the environmental standards required under REPS were best practice. The inexplicable aspect of the nitrates regulations is that they run contrary to REPS. Everyone involved in farming contends that there was very little, if any, consultation between Departments before signing the regulation. The EPA has stated that water quality in Ireland is among the best in Europe, so treating Irish farms in the same manner as farms in other EU countries is not comparing like with like. In any case, something that cannot be implemented will not contribute to protecting water. Sending farmers to jail, the ultimate penalty under the directive, will make little difference.

I am sick of hearing Government backbenchers and middle-benchers criticise the bureaucracy in farming while standing by and watching the Minister implement a directive that will add so much more by requiring farmers to prepare and maintain detailed records of all their fertiliser requirements, purchases and stocks for five years. To say that they will be bogged down is an understatement. Both large and small farmers will have their operations severely restricted if they have to implement these regulations. If they are farming in such a way as to need early grass, they will be severely restricted by the limitations on spreading nitrates and phosphates.

I am not sure that the Minister fully appreciates the seriousness of the situation. She said in a statement designed to reassure pig-farmers on 28 November that it was a situation where farmers could help other farmers, by accepting pig slurry.

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