Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I tabled this matter, in which I mentioned the Ministers with responsibility for housing and agriculture, to seek an update on where we are with the nitrates derogation. It is disappointing that we do not have a Minister here to deal with this issue, particularly one from the Department of agriculture.

A bombshell hit the agricultural sector 12 months ago, and the dairy sector in particular, when we lost our derogation. The majority of Ireland, seven eights of it, became part of a 220 kg per hectare zone and only one part was left as a 250 kg per hectare zone. The knock-on effect was absolute chaos within the system, with the potential of in-calf cows being slaughtered in order that the nitrates derogation could be reached. How we handled that is my deepest concern. We had a situation where a Zoom call was literally how we understood that we had lost our derogation. There was chaos. As a result of what happened, we have lost 1 billion litres of milk through this over the past two years. Confidence is draining from the industry. I am deeply concerned. I need to know the progress regarding the new derogation. The clock is ticking. We need to get information.

I feel like I am the only man who stands up for dairy farmers. It is not sexy to stand up for dairy farmers at times, but I always will. We have over 1,200 dairy farmers in my part of the world. We have five major co-ops, four of which are located in Bandon, Drinagh, Lisavaird and Barryroe. The fifth is operated by Dairygold. They are all really important drivers in our community. If we take in 1,200 dairy farmers, the co-ops and all these people, it is a major driver in rural Ireland. The fact that we could be in a situation where the derogation could be under threat is something I am really concerned about.

I am asking the Minister of State to outline where we are with this plan. What is the position with the negotiations? Can the Minister of State provide a timeline? Have the Department officials an the approach to the European Commission? I understand that an approach has to be made in the next few weeks. I want to know what they are having, what they are saying and where they are going. Two weeks ago, Commission representatives came to Ireland and, for some bizarre reason, we decided that we would not take them to the one catchment farm that is in a 250 kg per hectare zone, which is Timoleague. We should have taken them down there to show how we could have had a highly stocked bovine area and really good quality of water. For some reason, we did not do that. It was a missed opportunity. That is very unfortunate. We now need to make sure that this derogation is retained.We cannot go back to the absolute chaos we had last year. Last year, the Zoom call, the lack of information and the chaos in the system affected the confidence of the farming community. We have seen that in the substantial reduction in milk volumes, which is affecting the 59 milk plants throughout Ireland. This is not only have having an effect on the family farm. The majority of farms in west Cork have fewer than 100 cows, which shows where they are as regards scale of production. We are not a big operation. We have the family farm model. The Department needs to take a whole-of-government approach. There are two Departments covering this issue. On the water side, there is the Department of housing and, on the agriculture side, there is the Department of agriculture. There needs to be a whole-of-government approach to make sure the derogation is kept. We have done a very great deal in the last two or three years to improve water quality. The farming community has put in place 33 or 34 different measures to mitigate water quality issues. That needs to be taken on board. We have to build confidence in this sector and we will not do so if we have this drip-drip approach where we do not know what is going to happen next year. We need an update. We need to know where this is. We need a plan. The plan needs to take a whole-of-government approach and it needs to be driven forward by the Taoiseach's office. I would be deeply concerned if the Departments of housing and agriculture were left in charge again. They dropped the ball last time. They did a bloody Zoom call, which was not good enough. This time, the approach must be led from the very top of Government. If that is not the case, I fear where our family farms and this industry will go.