Liam Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

The Senator should not forget that Teagasc has been decentralised to Oak Park. The Senator is meeting different farmers from those I meet. I am on the hustings and I am aware of what they are saying. The Senator will have some explaining to do. The famous document that is the nitrates directive was produced in 1996. The code of practice was produced by the Wexford twins, former Ministers, former Deputy Yates and Deputy Howlin. It is a pity that document is still around to remind Fine Gael of it but that is the reality.

Responsibility for the finalisation of the action programme lies with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, but that does not mean that we in the Department of Agriculture and Food will walk away from our responsibility because it will have a significant impact on agriculture. We have had extensive consultations with the Department and we have involved Teagasc, all the stakeholders and the farming organisations. The Minister has no problem fighting for a derogation and has said so publicly. Storage is an area we can examine. There was not a single month in the autumn and winter of 2003-04 when slurry could not be spread. The restrictions imposed can be sorted out if this is treated with common sense. We should not be point scoring on this as there is a derogation that can be obtained.

A certain candidate in the European elections from south Leinster called on the Government to adopt the Northern Ireland area-based EU support payment arrangements. Is this an attempt to pass hard earned support payments from small farmers to landlord type farmers? Is this history repeating itself? Is this Fine Gael policy? The debate is worthwhile and we should not get bogged down in the politics of it. Fianna Fáil has had the backing of farmers for what it has done over the past few years. It is an exciting time for farming.