Malcolm Noonan (Green Party)

I welcome the interventions made yesterday by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste relating to the acts of terror being carried out by the Israeli state and Israel Defense Forces. Calling those acts a war crime is calling them what they are. We all absolutely deplore the holding back of food aid and destroying of the means of producing food - bakeries, fishing boats and greenhouses. This is the ultimate cruelty. More European countries, as well as the international community, need to step up, in particular the US, and intervene in what is fast becoming a humanitarian tragedy of unimaginable proportions. Israel, including through its bombing of Yemen, is now acting as a rogue state. That is very important. Again, I welcome the intervention by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste yesterday.

I raise the issue of water quality and research from Teagasc and the University of Galway under the WaterMARKE programme, which is looking at water quality measures that farmers are implementing. It is largely beef and sheep farmers getting involved in schemes because many farmers in the dairy sector find that participating in schemes presents onerous challenges as regards the hassle and training involved and the loss of productive land. Very clear findings are emerging from this research. These look at the next CAP strategic plan and the redesign of the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, which many farmers are fed up with. Professor Cathal O’Donoghue from the University of Galway made comments on making system-wide efforts to embed a much more holistic, farm-by-farm approach.The National Parks and Wildlife Service had a fantastic farm plan scheme, which should be rolled out on a much grander scale. Greater flexibility is required to allow wider participation and innovation in these schemes for the dairy sector. There are significant challenges in that sector.

Good work is going on across the country. I pay tribute to Bryan and Gail Daniels in Kilmoganny in County Kilkenny. They have recently become Farming for Nature ambassadors. They do incredible work on their farm, and have been for many years. They mix clover into the grass mix and have riparian zones, etc. Some of these simple measures can have a positive impact, farm by farm. Those measures include cutting off drinking water sources and putting in point sources from which animals can drink. All such measures could have a positive impact on our water quality as we move to implement the water action plan and try to get our water quality to a good status.

I again urge the Department of agriculture to look at this research. I ask the Minister, in particular, to take on board the outputs of the research.

Fantastic work is also going on in Teagasc, which is now employing officers across the country to work on a catchment-by-catchment basis. There is a great opportunity here that needs to be seized by the Government. We must support farmers to do the right thing through applying the right measure in the right place.