Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I have asked that question myself and the answer I have been given by people who are in the business of studying these matters scientifically is that the application of slurry outside the allowed times would not be beneficial in that it would be going onto ground which essentially is not for growing and would not improve the growth of crops. There is a need to examine the science behind it as well as simply looking for a way of getting rid of something which is valuable. Given the increase in fertiliser costs, the options for farmers need to be more widely considered than even my reply envisages. In other words, the uptake of organic farming becomes more attractive as the inputs for non-organic methods increase. Therefore, we need to examine the bigger picture, which is something farmers will be doing in any event.

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