Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On the same issue, there has been a lot of emphasis this year on the requirement of agriculture to improve its impact on our water quality. I agree that agriculture has a role to play and needs to improve the impact it is having. I fear that after the derogation has ended, we will come back in five years and water quality in Ireland will not have improved enough unless the other actors also improve their game. I have spoken to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine about forestry with the usual impact I have when I speak to him about something.

Deputy Mattie McGrath mentioned wastewater treatment plants. Half a billion litres of raw sewage are being pumped into our waterways every year. That is happening every day. It does not even include wastewater overflows that happen when there is a storm event that flushes the whole system into the waterways, as we saw happen to the unfortunate people of Midleton. The issue is not in any way confined to Midleton and it also happens in other areas.

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