The Taoiseach has been accused of giving farmers “false hope” over the nitrates derogation by the Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns.
The Cork south-west TD told the Dáil today (Wednesday, September 20) that the Taoiseach contradicted the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, “by going over his head and suggesting that the EU decision to reduce the nitrates derogation could be revisited”.
Deputy Cairns said the fact that the Taoiseach said he was going to write personally to the EU Commissioner and invite him to Ireland for discussions on the issue happened after Minister McConalogue had “repeatedly, publicly stated that this will not happen and that it cannot be done”.
During Leaders Questions in the Dáil today she said that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney – a former Minister for Agriculture – was the “architect of the policy of limitless expansion in the dairy sector that was pursued when he lifted the milk quotas”.
“The country had 500 pristine rivers in the 1980s, now, we have just 32.
“We have a biodiversity crisis, with 91% of protected habitats in poor or inadequate condition. More than 120 native plants and animal species have already gone extinct. Many small farms have become completely unviable,” Deputy Cairns added.
The Social Democrats leader said that this was a “direct consequence” of government’s policies.
She also said that it was against this backdrop that farmers will now, in a few months time, be “expected to reduce their herds, and their incomes, just like that”.
Deputy Cairns said that farmers deserved honesty and “a plan and stability”.
“We know suggestions that the commission will revisit the derogation are a charade. Does the minister accept that yes or no?
“Does he accept that now is not the time to pretend to fight the inevitable to score political points, but to redirect efforts – of the Taoiseach, the government and the department – to helping families through these transitions?” she added,
But Minister Coveney said he stood over the decision to abolish dairy quotas.
“It was the right decision at the time and it is the right decision now. Many dairy farms in Ireland were operating in a straitjacket, unable to fulfil their potential in terms of their dairy herds, and the vast majority of dairy farmers who have grown productivity and production since then have done so in a sustainable manner.
“Some have grown too quickly, that is true,” he added.
The minister said farm families were also doing “many things to reduce the impact of farming on the environment, whether it is grassland management, increased clover or reducing chemical fertilisers”.
“We have seen, for the first year in many, a reduction in the emissions coming from the agricultural sector over the past 12 months and that is going to accelerate into the future,” he added.