A German dairy farmer and MEP, who is a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, had “pledged to support” Ireland’s nitrates derogation.
That’s according to Irish MEP Ciaran Mullooly, who invited his German colleague Christine Singer to visit two Irish dairy farms in Co. Longford this past weekend.
Bavaria-based MEP Singer accepted the invitation from Mullooly to “come and see for herself the potential damage that losing the derogation could cause to the grass-based enterprise”.
Mullooly said he plans to engage with other MEPs over the next 12 months for the purpose of drumming up support for Ireland’s nitrates derogation.
As part of that, he said that he will brief members of the parliament’s agriculture committee – of which he is also a member – on the importance of the derogation for Irish farmers.
Mullooly and Singer visited the farms of Ann and John Sheridan near Edgeworthstown, and Joe, Barbara and Cathal McGreal in Ballinalee. Local and regional representatives of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) were also in attendance.
Mullooly commented: “It is clear by the level of investment on both farms that they are very much committed to adopting new farming practices to enhance the environment.
“With the increase in clover in Irish grass and both the use of protected urea and new direct slurry injection, our farmers are doing more than their fair share of the work to cope with the challenge ahead.
Although the European Parliament does not directly effect the decision to grant a derogation, the parliament, and its committees, can bring issues to the attention of the European Commission and other member states, which do decide on the granting of the nitrates derogation.
“We know the European Parliament will not decide this matter so we must all work together to ensure that the commissioners are made abundantly aware of the importance of the derogation to our farmers,” the Independent Ireland MEP said.
“Visits like this week are hugely important in getting the message to our colleagues in the other members states,” he added.
Mullooly also thanked the Sheridan and McGreal families for allowing the visits to their farms.
“The two enterprises deeply impressed all and made a valuable impact on showing the work clearly already being done by progressive Irish farmers,” he said.