Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fail)

Sinn Féin did an about-face and accepted the EU after a while.

The nitrates derogation is a big issue looming for farmers. In the agriculture committee of the previous Dáil, I said that there was an onus on us to engage proactively with the EPA. The biggest threat to our holding onto our nitrates derogation is the EPA not giving us timely information. Most of the water quality reports it was giving us were 18 months if not two years out of date. Significant progress has been made on water quality across the country. It is important that issue is raised.

There were a couple of points that were not mentioned in the motion. I will speak about peat producers. We need to address that issue again. They have made significant progress in that area. It is very much an industry that is in its twilight years. The EPA has its foot on the industry's throat and is using local authorities to berate many of the operators involved. The industry has changed. The big multiples in the UK are insisting on horticultural peat that is not entirely 100% peat based. They are looking for sphagnum and other alternatives. I visited a peat producer during the summer, a young producer who has the first sphagnum crop in Ireland. It is similar to a peat product. It is very innovative and has great advantages in relation to carbon. We did not address forestry. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, is involved in dealing with that at the moment. There were great expectations for what he was going to do. It was very much a case of poacher turned gamekeeper. We need to see him being proactive on that matter. The Government has been almost a year in office, and the Minister of State has been in post for a number of months. However, I do not think the forestry sector has felt the love to date.

I am sure it was an oversight by Senator Brady, but he left the horse sector out of his motion. That sector is a very important part of Irish agriculture in terms of horse racing and horse sport. Will the Department ensure that the horse and greyhound fund is protected at all costs? We have thriving industries in the sport horse sector, in racing and in greyhound racing that depend on this fund. I would like to hope that this Government and those that succeed it will be absolutely steadfast in their support for that sector and in their defence of funding of horse racing and greyhound racing. In the previous Dáil, issues relating to the sector were debated at length. Those issues have not gone away. I ask Senator Daly, who is on the agriculture committee, to raise those issues at the agriculture committee.

The sector has never been as successful as it is now. At one stage during the summer, we were able to put out five Nations Cup teams on three different continents. That was unprecedented. No other country anywhere in the world was able to do that. If there is a concern about the sector, it has to do with the position regarding traditional Irish-bred horses for showjumping, eventing, etc. The traditional draft-thoroughbred cross has been overtaken by a more continental European-bred horse. The Department needs to engage with the Irish Horse Board and provide more money and more schemes, particularly in the context of environmental schemes, to encourage farmers, especially those who are working, to return to horse breeding. There is a great opportunity there for the Department and for rural communities to support that.

We saw the huge success of and the many visitors who came here from the US for the American football game. I did not understand what was happening at the game, but it was a great boost to Dublin. The last time we suggested we would host the World Equestrian Games in Ireland was 1998. Dublin was put forward as a likely location. For some reason, the organisers pulled out at the last minute. There is an opportunity for the Government to look at hosting the World Equestrian Games in Dublin. We have Leopardstown Racecourse, we have the RDS and we have plenty of other facilities. We can bring several hundred thousand people to the city. This would be a major sporting event and would provide an opportunity to showcase the success of the Irish horse. I ask that the Minister of State engage with Horse Sport Ireland specifically on that matter.

I commend the Fagan family in Mullingar, particularly as Mullingar has been proposed as the Irish venue to bid for a leg of the 2026 Longines series, which is a major showcase event. The Fagans are one of the many families across the country who have invested in the horse sector and who are making huge strides. I hope that this Government and future Governments will always remember that sector.