Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister of State do everything possible to defer the new nitrates derogation regime which is reducing from 250 kg N/ha to 220 kg N/ha? I am asking that it at least be paused or deferred for a period of time. As the Minister of State would know, coming as he does from a country area, farmers get their cows and heifers in calf by July at the latest so that they will be calving from January onwards, through February and March, to meet the new season and catch the first grass that grows, and it was no different this year. Farmers had all of their cows and heifers in calf by the end of July at the latest, and then in September they were told this new regime would be coming into place from 1 January 2024. We can see the predicament many farmers are in now. There is no market at present for in-calf cows or heifers to be milked in the coming year because most farmers have their quota filled and their culled cows sold. They have the amount of cows they need so no one will be buying the extra cows or heifers, so there is only one place farmers can go with them. To keep the same amount of cows, farmers would have to buy or rent more land and that is just not possible for most of them. The only option they have is to send their heavily in-calf cows or heifers to the factory for slaughter. That is not a good thing to be asking farmers to do. It was never done in farming practices previously. Farmers never did that. They never sold in-calf cows that were close to calving or sent an in-calf heifer to the factory. That was never done here and I am asking the Minister of State to pull out all the stops to ensure it does not happen.

Farmers are against the change to the derogation but it seems to be copper-fastened at this stage. The European Commissioner with responsibility for the environment is coming over here on Thursday and I ask the Government to pull out all of the stops and ensure this issue is explained to him. This is cruelty. It is inhumane to do this to cows and heifers that are heavily in calf. I am being contacted by farmers around Killarney, in Kerry, Cork, Tipperary and Limerick who cannot believe they are in this predicament. The Minister of State is from a country place and I appreciate his presence here to listen to my story because I know he will take it forward. I appeal to him to drive the point home to the Taoiseach, who is meeting the Commissioner on Thursday, and whoever else is meeting him. I ask that every effort be made to ensure there is a pause or a deferral so that farmers have a proper and fair chance to comply with the new regulations. When the change was announced in September, it was too late then because the cows and heifers were already in calf.

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