Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

I apologise, I was unaware of that rule. I withdraw my comments.

I hope the proposals are not written in stone and that where alternatives and improved scientific advice are available to the Minister, he will take them on board. This advice is available to him. At a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government, Dr. Séamus Cross from Teagasc stated that the phosphorus and nitrogen levels permitted in tables 12 and 13 of the action plan were not signed off by Teagasc. However, the Minister chooses to disregard the advice of Teagasc, which one would expect to be the expert body in this field.

This matter is very serious. We must remember that the farming community has been challenged and driven to despair by successive legislation and directives implemented by this and previous Governments. Examples include the animal remedies regulation, the nitrates directive and prescription-only medicine. Is the Government attempting to drive farmers off the land? We will be left with a countryside composed of trees and animals but lacking people. The Government is mounting a sustained attack on farmers and somebody has to say "Stop". I am asking the Minister to call a halt to this attack on farmers.

The farming community has always been adaptable. It took part in negotiations leading to the single farm payment. We were told then that the payment would eliminate bureaucracy, which is the one scourge of the farming community. However, we have more bureaucracy and regulation than ever before. Farmers must engage in more record keeping. Inspectors from the Departments of Agriculture and Food and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government visit farms. Farmers now need two full-time secretaries to deal with all the record keeping imposed on them where once they only needed one. The situation is unreal and is not what farmers signed up to.

Farmers and the public will accept a measure which is practical and workable. If these regulations are introduced, 15% of agricultural production will be wiped out straight away. The chief executive of Arrabawn Co-op has spoken to me about its concerns. Could the Minister tell us where this co-operative and local authorities are supposed to dispose of their sludge? The chief executive of Arrabawn Co-op told me that in the last three years, the number of its suppliers has decreased by 27%.

If the Minister is given more time to assail the farmers of Ireland there will be none left. He is safe enough in the garden county of Wicklow but he should remember how important is rural Ireland. He should treat this issue in the same way as he treated incineration. In other words, he would favour it but not in County Wicklow.