Results 3,661-3,680 of 23,950 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Has Senator Lombard any other proposal in relation to-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Farmers need that information. All the new CAP programmes and data have to feed into providing that information. This is the first year of a new CAP programme. That new system has been designed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That new system has been designed over the last period of time. Farmers absolutely need that information. As I said in my statement in the start, we will get that to them over the next number of days. I have the team prioritising this because the Senator is right that farmers need information.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I have the team working to get that information to farmers as quickly as possible. They will have it in the next few days. It is important that farmers have that-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: -----so that they can plan for the rest of the year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Senator. I will ask Mr. Callanan to come in on the scientific and calculation points regarding the measuring of slurry. The Senator is correct in his account of where we are at with regard to the fact we now have clarity that there will not be a change to the derogation. Many parts of the country will have to drop to 220 kg N/ha. That is the situation we are in. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is perfect and I thank the Cathaoirleach. I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice. As he said, the committee visited and got first-hand feedback on the backdrop to the negotiations on the derogation and on the challenge whereby we have to make sure we are working collectively to ensure we hold the 220 kg N/ha. We are one of only three member states that has a derogation. Every other member state...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: There is no doubt about the trend we have seen in recent CAPs, with Pillar 2 becoming more important and eco-schemes entering Pillar 1. This is something on which I have already been making my position clear at national level with regard to the importance of both these pillars and support for farmers. I will come back to the other points at the end of the meeting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy. The EPA is the national scientific body that gathers the data, as the Deputy knows. It gathers that data in a robust and scientific fashion. It is important we support it to do that and ensure data is comprehensive as well. We will seek to continue to ensure there is funding in place to make sure the data we have best equips us to provide the best outcome for farmers....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: It is complex. Many factors have an impact on water quality. Land type and soil type are important, as is how nutrients and nutrient load are managed. Soil type can vary from field to field. It is challenging. What is done in one field, even with a high nutrient load, could have a minimal impact whereas what is done in another field with a lower nutrient load could have more of an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Teagasc would say that there would be an impact from it, but that it would not necessarily be the step that would make the most impact. As well as that, it is the step which has the most financial and economic impact. There are other steps that could be taken, and which we are taking and have already taken. One of the main steps which I wanted to put on the Commissioner's table was seeking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We would have focused on communicating the challenge that it might drop because obviously a farmer must look at it and work with their adviser to see how best to deal with a potential drop to 220 kg N/ha. The Deputy made a fair point about time. Farmers, particularly farmers who have a derogation, are closely monitoring how they apply nutrients. As part of the derogation process, there are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is why we fought very hard to hold the 250 kg N/ha and fought very hard in the review to continue to have that possibility. Obviously, the water quality data did not support that. We then fought to try to have the derogation and renegotiate it. Regarding where we will stand under the next derogation post 2025 and whether there is a possibility for some parts of the country showing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The derogation we have goes from January to December. It is the average of nitrogen loading over the year. That is the derogation we have and there is no possibility of renegotiating it and getting a legal, statutory amendment to it. We must work with the terms and conditions of the derogation we have. The map and data indicating which areas were failing at least one of the four tests...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the Deputy. We have worked closely with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage because this is a joint effort and that Department is technically the lead Department. We have worked very closely. I have been engaging with Teagasc and the advisory services on providing additional support for farmers. We will also be reflecting on how we can further support that....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The working group has had five meetings. I established it back in May. In the past, when this was an issue it was carried out much more informally between the Department and farm representatives. I was very conscious of the challenge that we have and I was very conscious of the backdrop of the really difficult negotiation we had to get the derogation renewed, and with the review to have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: It goes way back before my time so I am not necessarily in a position to give that background. It would have been managed by the Department with responsibility for housing over that period. The bottom line is that the nitrates directive was about improving water quality across EU member states. Everyone in the EU works to the same food and environmental standards. This is even more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We have an inspection process and system. I might ask Mr. Callanan to give an update on how it works.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Ireland's Water Quality and the Nitrates Derogation: Discussion (15 Sep 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I will just come in. The point the Deputy is making is a fair one. The more advice, assistance and hands-on support we can give to all farmers, the better. In Timoleague they have been working together and they have done great work. They are looking to manage and monitor nutrients in a very strong way with the objective of monitoring water quality alongside that. That is where our...