Seanad debates
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Agriculture Industry
1:00 pm
Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. My Commencement matter also relates to flooding. The exact wording is to ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage that some immediate provisional arrangements be made to allow farmers whose slurry storage facilities were flooded during Storm Babet to empty their tanks without fear of prosecution or penalty, considering the slurry spreading closed period commenced on 15 October.
I and the farmers are aware that under the good agricultural practice, GAP, for the protection of water regulations, SI 113 of 2020, farmers are still allowed to spread soiled water until 13 December. The problematic water is in essence just soiled water. While there were two extensions of the slurry spreading season, which were greatly welcome - I compliment the Department and the Minister for extending the season because we are all aware of the non-climatic conditions we had - unfortunately, many of the tanks which were emptied and made ready during the extended period are now full of water again as a result of the flooding.
I condole with the people who have lost a lot of property and big parts of their livelihoods, as we have seen on television in recent days. We have seen a lot of surface water. As the slurry tanks I am speaking about are all underground, they will be full before we even see water over ground. There is a large number of them. The biggest fear the farmers I have spoken to have is that if without agitating, they just take the water out, while they would be abiding by the regulations on safe spreading and buffer zones, they might be reported by people who are aware that the slurry spreading season is over. They would like to see a process, system or guarantee. Others may not be aware of the soiled water spreading condition because they are not dairy farmers - for example if they are beef farmers or some other people - and they might see them going out for the first time in a lifetime. What is the process? Will they be leaving themselves open? They are fearful of prosecution or cross-compliance loss of farm income, such as farm subsidies, although in essence, they would not be breaking the law under the nitrates regulations. They are asking for assurance that they can go and do safely what they know they can do legally without fear of consequences down the line.
Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for raising another flooding-related issue that is also important, on whether provisional arrangements can be made to spread slurry due to the flooding of slurry storage facilities during Storm Babet.
First, I take this opportunity to again sympathise with all those who have been impacted by Storm Babet. It has been devastating for communities. These exceptional weather conditions have caused significant challenges for many people. For those farmers who have flooded slurry storage facilities there are a few issues that should be considered before taking action.
As the Senator mentioned, the GAP regulations allow for an extension of the slurry spreading season until 15 October, provided there are suitable ground and growth conditions and a favourable weather forecast to ensure that the slurry spreading will not impact on water quality.The good agricultural practice, GAP, regulations allow for an extension of the slurry spreading season up until 15‘ October provided there are suitable grounds and growing conditions and a favourable weather forecast to ensure that the slurry spreading will not impact water quality. This year, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, approved the maximum extension, allowing farmers more time to empty their tanks before the start of the slurry spreading closed period. Therefore, those farmers following the best practice would have had empty slurry tanks before the storm. On farms where that is the case, the flood water in the slurry storage facilities is most likely soil water rather than slurry, as the Senator said. Under the good agricultural practices, GAP, regulations, soil water can be spread until early December provided the ground and weather conditions are suitable to prevent any run-off into streams and rivers. Local authorities are responsible for undertaking inspections and enforcement under the GAP regulations. Therefore, if any farmer is in doubt whether the contents of the slurry facilities are considered to be slurry or soil water, he or she should contact the local authority immediately. Where farmers decide to spread soil water in suitable ground and weather conditions, care must be taken to avoid agitating storage tanks that may result in slurry rather than soil water being spread. The spreading of slurry in unfavourable ground and weather conditions results in run-off to nearby streams, rivers and lakes, impacting water quality. We continue to see unsatisfactory trends in our water quality, as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is critically important that we work with farmers to ensure we minimise and eliminate any unwanted discharges into our water courses. We must turn that situation around.
The good agricultural practice, GAP, regulations allow for an extension of the slurry spreading season up until 15 October provided there are suitable ground and growth conditions and a favourable weather forecast to ensure that the slurry spreading will not impact water quality. This year, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, approved the maximum extension allowing farmers more time to empty their tanks before the start of the slurry spreading closed period and, therefore, those farmers following best practice would have had empty slurry tanks before the storm . On farms where that is the case, the flood water in the slurry storage facilities is most likely soiled water rather than slurry, as the Senator stated. Under the GAP regulations, soiled water can be spread until early December provided the ground and weather conditions are suitable to avoid any run-off to streams and rivers.
Local authorities are responsible for undertaking inspections and enforcement under the GAP regulations and, therefore, if any farmer is in doubt about whether the contents of slurry facilities are considered to be slurry or soiled water, he or she should contact the local authority immediately. Where farmers decide to spread soiled water in suitable ground and weather conditions, care must be taken to avoid agitating storage tanks as that may result in slurry rather than soiled water being spread.
The spreading of slurry in unfavourable ground and weather conditions results in run-off to nearby streams, rivers and lakes, thereby impacting water quality. We continue to see unsatisfactory trends in our water quality as reported by the EPA. It is critically important that we work with farmers to ensure we minimise and eliminate any unwanted discharges into our water courses. We must try to turn that situation around. We need to do all we can to prevent further impact by ensuring that slurry is spread when and where it is most needed by crops and as early in the season as is practicable. In the future, this will avoid these slurry storage capacity issues in line with good agricultural practice.
Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. There was common sense in his answer, which is unusual at times in these Houses. It is important that common sense prevails. As I said earlier, the farmers who are asking the question are doing so because they are cognisant of their roles and duties to the environment and water. They are compliant farmers. The Minister of State mentioned that local authorities can inspect. It is important that the message goes from the Department to the local authorities that where a farmer needs a decision, the process needs to be expedited. It needs to happen now. Another consequence of the weather we have had is its effect on the condition of grazing land. Farmers now have to put in their cattle. Depending on their location, they may have had grass for another fortnight, three weeks or one month, but that is all finished now because those grazing lands are saturated. The cattle have to go in and the tanks are full. If it is the case that somebody from the local authority needs to visit a farm, that needs to happen. There cannot be any bureaucracy or delay. It would help if that message would go from the Department to the local authorities. The farmers who are asking the questions are those who are compliant and are cognisant of their duties and roles, otherwise they would not ask the question.
Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I agree wholeheartedly. The vast majority of farmers have a great duty of care to the environment. Farmers who are unclear as to whether their tanks contain slurry or soil water should contact their local authorities. Going forward, farmers should prioritise emptying their slurry storage facilities as early in the growing season as possible. That is a practical measure. It will boast economic benefits for farmers as well as water quality benefits. The requirement to spread slurry at this stage of the year is avoidable with efficient management.
The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, recently raised the matter of slurry storage and management with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and asked him and his officials in the Department to continue to promote the early application of slurry to avoid such slurry storage capacity issues and to encourage farmers to put adequate slurry storage in place.
The Senator mentioned the local authorities. There are not enough officers in local authorities to deal with this issue. Some provisions in budget 2024 aim to help to rectify that situation. It is critically important that local authorities are the contact here. It is important that the responsible farmers the Senator is talking about, who want to do the right thing, have the right advice and the flexibility to manage their slurry in a sustainable way.