Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----the issue of surrogacy is intimately bound up with the choice the people will be obliged to make in the referendum.

We have often had occasion to discuss the EU and our membership of it has been of great benefit to many people in various ways. However, EU bureaucracy can drive one nuts. It is particularly sad when our Government fails to spot the madness in proposed EU laws and to ensure that such laws are changed in circumstances where they might impact badly on us. An example in this regard is the sustainable pesticides use directive, which was introduced in Ireland during the past year. The stated aim of this directive is good, namely, to reduce the risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and the environment. New classes of pesticide users have been created. In particular, farmers will now be classed as professional users of pesticides. The directive stipulates that all professional users must be registered by 26 November next. After that date, only a registered professional or a person operating under his or her direct supervision will be able to purchase and use pesticides. What people do not realise is that in order to be registered, one must first obtain trained professional user certification. As a result, a farmer who uses pesticides, regardless of how much or how little, will be obliged to complete a module of a level 5 or 6 Teagasc-FETAC at a cost of up to €1,000. This directive will apply regardless of whether one uses a small, hand-held pesticide sprayer or a massive, tractor-pulled trailer sprayer. The directive also contains a requirement to the effect that those who use pesticides must maintain records of how and when they are used.

The new regulations that will apply in this regard have been correctly described by John Comer, president of the ICMSA, as being excessive and outright ridiculous. The majority of those involved in farming in this country are grassland farmers who raise livestock. In comparison to large-scale tillage farmers in Britain and on the Continent, these individuals rarely use pesticides. It is absolute madness, therefore, that small livestock farmers will be required to do a training course in order that they might use even knapsack or hand-held sprayers. Small farmers in the areas surrounding Athenry and Tuam who do not undertake large-scale spraying operations will be obliged to sit through lectures aimed at farmers who sprays thousands of gallons of pesticide each year and to pay for the privilege of having their time wasted while they do so. Failure to comply with the requirement will make these people liable to prosecution.

I request that we hear from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in early course on this matter. The infuriating aspect is that there was originally a proposal that low-level users of pesticides should be exempt from the training requirement. However, this was dropped. Just as in the case of the negotiations on the nitrates directive, the various energy directives, so many other directives and rules and regulations which emanate from Brussels, those who represent the Government seem to have been asleep at the wheel. We had an opportunity to carve out exemptions which would have been tailored to our particular situation here in Ireland. However, the Department either ignored that opportunity or simply did not care enough to seize it. These new rules will impose additional levels of bureaucracy and costs on farmers. As Mr. Comer has stated, they border on the outright ridiculous. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, should review the regulations and, even at this juncture, he should seek an exemption in respect of low-level users of pesticides. It would be appropriate for him to address the Seanad on this matter at the earliest opportunity.