Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. He is making Monsanto's argument there. He can do it any way he likes, but we are reneging on our environmental responsibilities.

The scale and intensity of fertiliser, herbicide and pesticide use in the EU's arable farming sector has resulted in extensive biodiversity loss, water pollution and soil degradation in many parts of Europe. Under the ecological focus area scheme, Europe's farmers were obliged to dedicate a minimum of 5% of their arable space to EFAs. The Minister is now arguing nonsensically that these areas may be sprayed with pesticides and herbicides even though the whole point of the EFA scheme was to ensure that at least some area of land was free of these intensive farming practices and chemicals.

I do not know how the Minister can make that argument. Why did they come up with the 5% scheme in the first place, if we are going to ignore it? We are not putting by 5% of land that is free of these chemicals. At the behest of Monsanto, we are saying, "Ah, we'll ignore it and keep going. As long as Monsanto keeps making money, sure it'll be all grand."

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