Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, to the House. It is an indication of his commitment to this issue, that he has taken time out to be with us.

As the Minister is well aware, there is considerable concern in the dairy farming sector at the looming crisis that will be caused if the nitrates derogation cannot be maintained at its current level. On Monday, I had the opportunity, at the invitation of the Irish Farmers Association to visit Adrian Brooks. He is a young farmer who is known to me for many years and I can see the work that he has done. Mr. Brooks was joined by a number of other dairy farmers, namely, Kieran Woods, Micheál O'Dwyer, Kieran O'Connell, Tommy Lane, Andrew Dundas and Caroline Enright. They all share the same worries and concerns, in that any changes to the derogation will have a significant impact on their livelihoods. The notion that any reduction in the 250 kg of organic nitrates towards 220 kg, or below, would have a detrimental impact on their livelihoods.

Mr. Brooks and his colleagues are typical in that they are young, prosperous, well-intentioned farmers who have built a sustainable livelihood for themselves and their families on the farm. They have invested heavily and made these farms viable. They are not in the super league, or anywhere like it. Average farm sizes in County Clare are significantly smaller than in other parts of the country, but a number of these farms are intensive and every perch of ground is utilised to the benefit and profitability of the enterprise. This intensive approach has made these farms viable, let us be honest about it. The approach has allowed the farmers to have full-time jobs on the farm and create employment for others.

The banding approach, of which the Minister is aware, has already had a serious impact on stocking rates. Thus, any changes to the derogation towards 220 kg or below will undoubtedly require farmers to reduce cow numbers further, with a knock-on effect on viability. Reducing the number in a herd of cows in County Clare from 100 to 90 or 85, throws the farm into being non-viable. If one takes 100 cows out of a 1,000-cow herd, the operation is still viable.You may have to reduce some activities, but farms taking out nine or ten cows will have a detrimental impact, and it will be the difference between full-time and part-time farming. Having encouraged these young farmers to take over their family farms, to make them more productive than in the past, to invest significant amounts of borrowed money and to develop their enterprise, we cannot have a situation where we now allow the rug to be pulled from under them on the basis that there is not really an alternative. We have to find an alternative. There is a significant knock-on effect on other enterprises, as the Minister knows.

The interim review will be based on comparing water quality between 2021 and 2022. This is flawed, because some of the measures coming into place in 2022 and 2023 will have had no chance to improve water quality. The reduction in the nitrate derogation to 220 will have significant economic impact and could potentially remove between €225 million and €230 million from the rural community. The prospect of reducing the maximum stocking density to 2022 is already having a knock-on effect and consequences on all farming sectors. It is increasing the demand for land and leading to significant increases in land prices. That is having a disproportionate impact, particularly in County Clare, where it is forcing up the price of land and making it less available to other enterprises, whether to sheep, to the suckler herd, which is an important area in County Clare, or to the beef sector. Even though the proposals have not yet been put in place, or have not yet been agreed, they are really destabilising the future of farming in the county I know best, and I am sure in many other counties.