Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the dairy industry and where we are at the moment regarding the nitrates derogation. The nitrates derogation was clarified in the past few months. The EPA published a map on 1 July which puts Ireland in two different zones regarding organic manure, one zone in 250 kg N/ha and one in 220 kg N/ha. The knock-on implication is that those in the 220 kg N/ha zone must now make sure their stock rate is appropriate to that zone. The majority of dairy farmers, in fact all of them, will have finished their breeding programme in June. They have now been told that by 1 January they need to be in the situation applicable to this new nitrate derogation proposal. This means that those in that location will have to de-stock by 15%. These are animals in calf - 40,000 dairy cows, some six or seven months in calf - about to calf in January, February and March. We will now have the bizarre scenario that because of this regulation we will have to demand that our farmers slaughter these animals. It is sinful. It makes no logical sense. It means we will have a massive cull of our dairy herd off the back of a derogation. The farmers had no opportunity to change their breeding programme because it had finished in June and the map was published on 1 July. Had the map been published previously the point could have been argued but because it was not published they had no option. Realistically we are saying that farmers want to make sure they are in line with regulations but they need time to make sure that these animals can come off the farm in an appropriate manner. We are not looking to reinvent the wheel. We are looking for appropriate time to make sure that these animals can be moved through the actual system itself. Otherwise, we are potentially going to have more than 40,000 animals going to the factory in the next 11 weeks. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate in the next few days with the Minister about the issue of the in-calf animals and how he proposes to deal with them.