David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 184: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food when she will introduce the grant scheme to upgrade housing and holding facilities as required by the nitrates directive; when the nitrates action plan will be finalised; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26491/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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To assist farmers meet the additional requirements of the nitrates action programme, I have announced details of a proposed revised farm waste management scheme for which EU approval is now being sought. I hope early approval of the scheme will be forthcoming so that it can be introduced next January.

Subject to the required EU approval, the scheme will introduce a standard grant rate of 60%, with 70% being available for zone C counties, in place of the current grant rate of 40%, with additional aid available for young farmers at rates of 10% in less-favoured areas and 5% in other areas; it will extend the maximum income unit ceiling for farmers from 450 to 650 income units, with no upper limit being applied in the case of pig and poultry farmers; raise the maximum eligible investment from €75,000 to €120,000; remove any minimum income requirements from farming from the scheme so that all small farmers can participate in the scheme; the scheme will be extended to include horses, deer, goats, pigs, poultry, and mushroom compost; and introduce a new 40% grant rate for specialised equipment with specific environmental advantages subject to maximum eligible investment of €80,000 in the case of decanter centrifuge systems and dry feeding systems for pigs and €40,000 in the case of specialised slurry spreading tankers and related equipment. The scheme will increase the maximum eligible investment for standard mobile equipment from €11,000 to €15,000 with the grant rate remaining at 20%.

I am satisfied that, if approved, the revised scheme will provide a very satisfactory platform for Irish farmers who need to carry out additional investment works to meet the requirements of the nitrates directive. I urge farmers to make the necessary arrangements to ensure they are ready to avail of the scheme by the proposed implementation date.

Implementation of the nitrates directive is a matter in the first instance for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Ireland's national action programme under the nitrates directive was formally submitted to the European Commission by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on 29 July 2005. The next step is for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to make regulations to give legal effect to the action programme. My Department, supported by Teagasc, has been assisting the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in finalising these regulations. I expect the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to publish the draft regulations very shortly for public consultation.

The final stage of the process, but an extremely important one, is for Ireland to secure a derogation from the general organic nitrogen limits in the directive so that farmers can operate, under appropriate conditions and controls, up to a level of 250 kilogrammes of organic nitrogen per hectare. My Department and Teagasc developed the derogation proposals in consultation with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. There have been preliminary discussions with the Commission about the derogation application and I will press strongly to have these discussions concluded as early as possible in 2006.