Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to refer to a matter which other Senators have raised before me. It is of vital importance that we contact the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and encourage him to extend the slurry spreading deadline, at least regionally. Next Tuesday, 15 October, is the last day on which farmers may spread slurry. It has been impossible for them to spread slurry. It seems that we look for extensions annually, which is probably because it is nigh impossible to farm by calendar, which is how things have been set up. Dates are picked on a calendar by bureaucrats and farmers have to work to them. We all saw the coverage of Donegal in the aftermath of Storm Lorenzo when football fields and farmlands were completely flooded. One could not walk out on them, yet farmers are expected to have their slurry out on those fields before next Tuesday. That will be impossible. Common sense should prevail. We need to put pressure on the Minister. He is a man well used to moving goalposts when it comes to the deadlines he sets for himself so I do not see how he could find difficulty in doing the same if not nationally then regionally for the north west, the north midlands and areas that were hit worst by the storm and are being hit worst by the persistent heavy rains. It will not be possible for farmers to spread slurry by the Tuesday deadline in those areas. The country as a whole has had a lot of rainfall and the ground is saturated. Thinking back to the pictures of Donegal only a week ago, how in God's name could anyone be expected to go out with machinery and spread slurry on that land before next Tuesday? I hope that it will be looked on favourably and that common sense will prevail.