Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

My understanding is the nitrates action plan has screened out appropriate assessments. Is that correct? How does the habitats directive fall into that action plan? The Minister is saying appropriate assessments may be part of this for farmers. I do not know whether that is on a catchment level or an individual site level.

Our concerns have always been that farmers were being led to a cliff and there was a level of uncertainty for them. There is now a three-year gap but, unfortunately, I imagine we could be back into this situation again in three years, where farmers are at the end of their tether and wondering what will happen in a number of months. I ask that the Minister completely avoid this.

It is also interesting that when the nitrates directive is mentioned, whether it is the Taoiseach or the Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, the immediate response is to deflect to Mercosur. It seems there is a conflation of Mercosur and nitrates in the minds of some Government TDs-----

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