Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

Yes, I can confirm that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, is taking the lead on this but we are working closely in consultation. I am not deflecting in saying this, but it will be worth raising this point with the Minister of State as well because he is dealing with it on a day-to-day basis. We are providing, as I said, financial support of €50 million through the ASSAP programme. I agree with the Deputy that it is a really positive programme. It is leading to great work being done, not just in the Lady's Island catchment area but by thousands of farmers all over the country taking on voluntary additional conditionality.

In addition, EU and nationally funded schemes, such as the agri-climate and rural environmental scheme, ACRES, and the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, are available to farmers in the catchment. Again, these benefit water quality by incentivising farmers to go above and beyond regulatory requirements. We see the demand for TAMS, with 6,100 applications in the most recent tranche, which is double the number traditionally. Farmers are investing in water quality, increased nutrient storage and low-emission slurry spreading, and we are supporting them to do those things through TAMS.

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