Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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196. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if new legislation will be required to implement required standards for the testing and use of agricultural sprayers in accordance with European Directive 2009/128/EC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32366/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Statutory Instrument No. 155 of 2012 which transposes Directive 2009/128/EC into Irish law, makes it a legal requirement for all “agricultural sprayers” over 3m wide, as well as orchard sprayers and other pesticide application equipment to be tested by November 2016. Officials in my Department are currently working on the mechanisms to facilitate this process and it is planned to have a coherent system in place by early 2014. It is not foreseen that any additional legislation will be required to progress these systems.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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197. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when standards for the testing and use of agricultural sprayers here in accordance with European Directive 2009/128/EC will be published; the way these standards will be enforced and if sanctions will apply where required standards are not reached; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32367/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Statutory Instrument No. 155 of 2012 which transposes Directive 2009/128/EC into Irish law, makes it a legal requirement for all “agricultural sprayers” over 3m wide, as well as orchard sprayers to be tested by November 2016. Schedule 1 of the legislation prescribes the standard to which the above equipment will be tested i.e. boom sprayers in excess of 3m wide must conform with EN Standard 13790-1:2003, while orchard and blast sprayers must conform with EN Standard 13790-2:2003. These standards are published on the website of the European Committee for Standardisation and are available for purchase.

All legal requirements placed on various people through regulations mentioned above will be monitored and measured by officials from my Department. This includes inspection at farm level under Statutory Management Requirement No. 9 (pesticides). There will not be any additional inspections at this level but rather the scope of the inspections will be enhanced to include issues such as end-user training, certification of sprayer and operation of the principles of integrated pest management. Statutory Instrument No. 155 of 2012 allows for the application of penalties. Where a breach is detected to a Single Payment Scheme recipient, a disallowance through this scheme may also apply.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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198. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the testing facilities and certification systems that are currently in place here to ensure that the testing and use of agricultural sprayers are in compliance with European Directive 2009/128/EC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32368/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Directive in question was transposed into Irish legislation in 2012 under Statutory Instrument 155 of 2012. The principle aim of these regulations is to achieve a more sustainable use of pesticides in both the farming and the amenity/landscaping sectors.

With regard to the "testing and use of agricultural sprayers", these regulations enable me to establish a register of "inspectors of pesticide application equipment" and make it a legal requirement for all pesticide application equipment in use, to be tested by a registered inspector by November 2016. The registered inspectors, when inspecting such equipment, shall apply the standards as set out in EN Standard 13790-1:2003 for Boom sprayers and EN Standard 13790-2:2003 for Orchard and Blast sprayers.

Officials in my Department are currently working on the mechanisms to facilitate this process and it is planned to have a coherent system in place by early 2014, allowing sufficient time for all sprayers to be tested by the timeline prescribed in the regulations.