Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, and his officials to the House. I support the Government amendment. The Fine Gael spokesperson on agriculture in the other House has been quite active on television. The motion condemns the Minister, "for his failure to suspend the introduction of these regulations in light of revised scientific evidence". I did not think the Minister had received any scientific evidence yet. I wonder why it was included in the motion.

I compliment Teagasc on its work in agriculture down through the years. I always considered Teagasc an outstanding independent adviser to farmers. It has developed farming throughout the country. Teagasc advice, when taken on board by farmers, has ensured that farms have continued to be viable. It has been a pioneer in developing many farming enterprises in the past.

We are discussing fertiliser use and examining the type of fertiliser used on land. This will cause farmers to realise the amount of hundred weights of fertiliser they spread per acre. They will now examine testing the land properly to ensure that the required amount of fertiliser will be spread in keeping with the directive. They will continue to grow adequate crops.

We must recognise the tremendous developments that have taken place in water quality. We all recognise that this country depends largely on water sourced from underground. We can no longer take any risks with that water. We must recognise the contribution that farmers have made over the past number of years regarding the land and housing. They have ensured that contaminated water is no longer let into the ground.

Points were raised regarding the difficulty with record keeping. From what I gathered from the Minister's statement, the record keeping required is standard and if a farmer was not keeping such records he or she would not be able to continue in farming.

The Acting Chairman is indicating to me. I am sorry the time is short. I do not want to cut in on Senator Scanlon's time. I compliment the Minister on his drive to ensure the derogation is increased to 250 kg. It is 170 kg at present. The Minister stated on many occasions that as soon as he can and when this is cleared, he will move to get that derogation for farmers, which will allow them to make a living and continue to farm.