Results 1,401-1,420 of 2,691 for speaker:Tim Lombard

Seanad: Energy: Motion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I think the last time we met was at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action in Leinster House. I am not a member of the committee, but I took the opportunity to attend so that I could be briefed on this important issue. We had four hours of debate that day. This debate is still ongoing and we still need clarity on many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: The slurry exports have also doubled. If you were exporting slurry and were not in derogation, the volumes have changed so you are automatically brought back in. Slurry is a huge issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: I will start with the banding. An interesting point was made about the 15% in the cohort that will be caught in respect of the banding. Has the Department done any analysis as to what reduction in numbers would be required? The majority of us would run on the basis of the life cycle of a cow being eight to ten years and, therefore, the breeding programme will have to change. That stock...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: That is double now, though. The issue of exporting slurry has the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: As for informing farmers and even advisers, there has been one webinar so far. The witnesses may correct me if I am wrong. What programme of information does the Department have to roll out over the next six months to inform advisers and farmers what is required with this new derogation? Is it proposing a roadshow of some nature? I do not mean a roadshow as part of the CAP reform, but a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: That is only one webinar.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: Has the Department put a programme in place to have a roadshow similar to the CAP roadshow to inform the farming community what is happening with the nitrates action plan?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: The cohort of 15% is one issue. However, the entire nitrates directive involves many farmers, including the changes to what is allowed with the exportation in slurry. There is potential for the Department to hit the road, go to the communities and talk about the entire entity that will affect more than 16,500 farmers. We will park it today, but the Department might consider opening the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: I have a question for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It is not the Department of environment; I have been corrected on that. What is the EPA's involvement in providing the Department with information on the testing points? How were those points on the map picked?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: What is the methodology?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: Monthly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: I believe the Department runs a catchment programme with Teagasc. I believe 28 are working on that in different locations around Ireland. I had the privilege of going to one of them yesterday in Timoleague. The people there told me they test the water on that programme every ten minutes. Are those locations part of the EPA report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: We have a body paid by the Department, Teagasc, that tests the water every ten minutes. Just so that everyone is working together, at a minimum should those five locations not be a part of the EPA report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: Can someone explain that terminology?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: When I was down there yesterday, they informed me that I was paranoid about the 2018 dynamic that a dry year would have nitrates go through the roof. They told me what they are coming back with is beyond belief. Yesterday's reading was 3.5 and it was below 2.6 all the way through. For part of the year the reading was 1. It gave me great hope with a catchment area that is so intensively...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: Given that the results are so spectacular, is there a need to extend that programme? Will that be part of the solution? I know it is an expensive programme; I do not know how much it costs. The results seem to be very positive and they are not just agricultural; they catch many issues regarding the farming catchment area itself. This may be a debate for another day. We have five or six...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: I realise they are part of the validation side of the programme but could these measuring points also be used as part of the measuring part of the programme? We inform the European Union about how well we are doing but as a testing location, could it not be a dual location in that scenario, taking into consideration the amount of work done over the past 14 years?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: I welcome the witnesses to the committee. It is important that they bring up this timely issue regarding the nitrates action plan and how it could have a huge impact on rural Ireland in particular. Mr. McCormack mentioned banding. The nitrates issue comes down to several issues, namely, that we will potentially reduce our nitrates by 250 kg to 220 kg, which will take a rotation out of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: The Department would take it, however, that this cohort of more than 15% are probably the most efficient operators in the field. They have probably spent a generation, if not three, building up their herd profile in a certain way, usually with high-yielding cows. Some of them could be winter milk cows. With the majority of these animals that hit the 15%, it will take, if not one, two...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Derogation and Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Tim Lombard: How often are those points tested?