Peter Callanan (Fianna Fail)

I have my own views on the nitrates directive and perhaps I am starting where I should be finishing, but it is an important issue. It may not be known in this House but in 1991, Cork County Council southern committee engaged in experimental trials with anaerobic digestion as a method of waste management. It was and is a success story and I have a copy of the report with me. It clearly shows that in Denmark and Holland anaerobic digestion is considered the way forward. I contend that in five or seven years the lateral spread of slurry in this country will be over. The practice of injecting slurry into the ground may continue for a few more years but it is time the nation looked at a new way forward, such as anaerobic digestion. There can be no doubt that, from an atmospheric point of view, the lateral spreading of slurry is gone even though nobody likes to hear it. I had a meeting with farming organisations at the weekend and they were not pleased when I told them. It is my contention that it will happen.

It is important that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Agriculture and Food, together with the farming organisations, lead us into the future. That system should be examined and researched — perhaps research is the wrong word to use because the system is being used already. Four piggeries in Cork have been granted planning permission in recent weeks for the anaerobic digestion of slurry. It is the way forward.

The mid-term review and CAP reform were successfully conducted. The devil is always in the detail of the fine print. A successful achievement was that the scheme is designed to meet the needs of Irish agriculture. The Minister, the Minister of State and the departmental officials represented Ireland very well.

The CAP was formed under the Treaty of Rome to ensure that Europe had sufficient food but it began to go wrong in the early stages. A false market was created by intervention. I never regarded intervention as a successful marketing system other than as an excuse for lazy activity. It took products off the market instead of devoting time, effort and energy to producing what the market and the consumer required. It is essential that the consumer is regarded as central. I hope the probable downturn in agricultural production will not occur because Ireland has the perfect environment for the production of high quality produce. The intervention system and the other payments referred to by the Minister of State caused a slippage because it led to production-based agriculture rather than consumer-led agriculture and there is a difference.

The population of the world is approximately 6.7 billion and in 35 or 40 years' time it is anticipated to be 9 billion or 10 billion, if we are spared war and plague in the meantime. Those numbers will need to be fed. Food comes from land and land is the basis of food production. Food is required for life by humans. We should adopt a long-term strategy. Post-Fischler there is an absence of usage of land. People make wild statements and what I term uninformed comments in order to lead people out of agriculture and out of land ownership with a view to grabbing it themselves. That has been the case historically in this country — "you have what I want".

We should explore the possibilities of using our land both here and in Europe. Some bio-mass products are easily grown and suitable weather conditions would allow them to mature. Oil and gas are finite resources and they will be exhausted in 40 years' time.