Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there is an environmental restriction on the use of copper sulphate for the treatment of potato blight; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21921/17]

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I offer my congratulations to the Minister of State on the retention of his position. It is well merited. I wish to talk to him today about potato blight. Agricultural crops, including potatoes, provide a very strong livelihood for so many in south Kildare, and there are many potato farmers in addition to the thousands of home producers. The margins can be very tight, as we have witnessed with the impact of Brexit on the mushroom sector recently in Kildare and indeed throughout the country. My specific question to the Minister of State is whether there is an environmental restriction on the use of copper sulphate for the treatment of potato blight, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her good wishes.

All "copper compounds", including copper sulphate, used for crop protection purposes - predominantly organic production - were reviewed at EU level in 2009.  At that time, EU conditional approval was granted to "copper compounds" for a period of ten years.  It was then left up to member states to approve individual products which conform with the EU approval.  An application has recently been received by my Department to authorise a product containing a copper compound and there may well be additional product applications in response to demand, primarily, as I said, by the organic sector.

As with all plant protection products, authorisation and use conditions for products containing a copper compound will be established based on the comprehensive risk assessments carried out. In addition, risk mitigation measures such as buffer zones or the use of personal protective equipment are often applied.

Like all plant protection products, there are limits as to how much of each individual product can be applied to a given area, and copper compounds are no different. Member states are required to pay particular attention to issues such as impurities in the material manufactured, operator safety and the protection of water and non-target organisms.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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At a recent public meeting on agriculture that I hosted in Kildare with my good friend and colleague, Deputy McConalogue, the issue of EU over-regulation was raised. Farmers in Kildare, and I have no doubt throughout the country, want assurance that our Government is fighting for them and not being bound by regulations that may suit other countries that have different climates to the one enjoyed by us at the edge of Europe. Until recent years, we had but one single strain of potato blight to contend with in Ireland, but the arrival on our shores of a second type had the result of turning one line of blight into a family tree. Luckily, the new strains of blight have remained somewhat susceptible to copper, and this allows farmers to grow potatoes with a reasonable natural resistance to the disease.

However, I was contacted by constituents who became concerned when discovering there was a difficulty using copper, as no company had registered a copper product as a fungicide in Ireland. This has been done in most other EU member states. Ireland is just one of five countries not to have done so. The other four do not have a similar climate to Ireland's, which is susceptible to the potato blight. Even though copper is a trace element that is essential for all forms of life, it faces an uncertain future as a fungicide since the EU seems to want to ban it.

When purchased, copper sulphate comes in a bag marked for use as a feed additive for animals. Is copper a feed or a toxin?

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The smart answer is it is both. I know that from experience. Deputy Aylward will be aware that when animals deficient in copper are given an injection, they will die if they are too given much copper but if they are given the right amount, they will be cured.

Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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That is true.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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A little of everything is good.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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One learns something new every day. This is a response to allow for the use of products containing copper in certain circumstances in organic farming systems. It is, therefore, permissible. One application for authorisation of a product containing the active substance, copper oxychloride, was received in March this year and it is anticipated there will be a decision on that soon. It is also anticipated there will be more applications. It is true that there is no product on the market but one was applied for three months ago. Perhaps that is why people are saying there is a difficulty. The EU permits copper use but each member state has to deal with each specific application because there are different compositions in products. They should not be contaminated but they may be and that has to be scrutinised.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I accept that and I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Potato yield has decreased by 7.9% since 2015, even though the area under potatoes has increased by 6.1%. There is, therefore, an issue in this regard. According to French research, copper-based fungicides common in organic farming can be toxic to earthworms but this is not applicable to Irish soil and I welcome the Minister of State's comment that members states have the capacity to determine their own future on this issue. Bord Bia's Pathways for Growth report refers to Ireland's enviable position in respect of growing potatoes. The Minister of State will agree that it is essential for the economic well-being of rural Ireland that we retain the capacity to serve the customers have been identified in this report and it is also essential that copper can be used safely in our blight favouring climatic conditions. It will thus become an important option in the toolbox of organic and conventional farmers as we work towards fulfilling market demand.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The application that was submitted in March is being processed and, hopefully, it will get the necessary sanction as soon as possible with the conditions as outlined attached. This is why sprayer safety courses, of which several thousand have been undertaken, are so important. The crop which is sprayed with these products must be treated with respect while the products should avoid the crops they are not meant to treat.