Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

604. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he can provide an assurance that if farmers purchase a dribble bar for low-emissions slurry spreading, that this will continue to be an acceptable practice into the future, given that many farmers are fearful of making the necessary investment only to find that the rules change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56181/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The practice of Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) is an important environmentally sustainable technology that will facilitate Ireland in meeting its environmental commitments through ammonia reductions and improved nutrient recovery from slurries.

LESS also improves nutrient use efficiency and hence reduces dependency on chemical fertilisers. The practice of LESS through trailing hose (dribble bar) meets the requirements of Ireland's current Nitrates Action Programme which runs to the end of 2025.

From an air quality and an ammonia perspective, the spreading of slurries through any of the LESS technologies (trailing hose, trailing shoe or direct injection) is critical to reducing agriculture's ammonia emissions. These LESS technologies are now recognised in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) national greenhouse gas and air inventories for emissions estimates.

From a Nitrates Regulatory perspective, there is at present no intention to exclude the use of the trailing hose as a permitted LESS technology for the application of slurry.