The planning permission system for slurry storage is “completely clogged” at the moment, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has heard.
The comment was made by the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Denis Drennan who addressed the committee yesterday (Wednesday, February 14).
Drennan told the committee that there is currently a situation where “anybody and everybody” is in a position in which they can object planning permission for slurry storage.
He said it is “completely ridiculous” that somebody “living 300 miles away” can object planning based on the distance from a Special Protected Area (SPA) or Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
Drennan said there is a “huge” number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Ireland who are “making a full-time job out of objecting to farmers [doing] the right thing”.
“On one hand part of their organisation is saying that farmers need to spread slurry at the right times and have the proper facilities in place.
“Yet the other wing of the same organisation can be objecting and become serial objectors to people who want to do the right thing,” the ICMSA president told the committee.
Planning for slurry storage
Drennan said that, at the moment, planning permission can take up to 18 months, even for “straightforward” cases, which he said is completely “unacceptable” for farmers.
He added that the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) is also “clogged up”, stating that only 800 of the over 2,500 applications for slurry storage are approved to date.
Stressing that farmers “can’t have enough slurry storage”, Drennan said that it is the “ultimate goal” to be in a position to spread slurry when the weather conditions are favourable.
If a farmer is in control of their slurry and spreads it at the most “optimal” time in terms of grass uptake, that is the “most effective” for farmers economically and the environment, he said.
He said the planning system and TAMS need to be fixed, and fast tracking of planning and “maybe even planning exemptions” where farmers are building on existing farm yard is needed.
“We can’t have a situation where getting planning permission can take up to 18 months and to get approval for TAMS takes another nine or 10 months,” Drennan said at the meeting.
Under current TAMS rules, where farmers have less than the legally required slurry storage, they are ineligible for a TAMS grant for slurry storage or soiled water, the ICMSA said.
The association is proposing that if farmers are below the legal requirement and wish to bring their slurry facilities up to 20 weeks, for example, they would be required to pay the full cost up to the legal limit and would get grant aid thereafter.
For example, if farmers have 15 weeks storage in Zone A (16 weeks), they would pay for one weeks’ storage and would get grant aid on the additional four weeks, the ICMSA said.