No Minister - it's not the best outcome

By Matt Dempsey

Minister Mary Coughlan's Dail defence of the motion of no confidence in her, even allowing for the theatrical nature of Dail debates stretched credulity to the limit. For her to claim that Minister Roche and herself have on the nitrates issue succeeded "in getting the best outcome for Ireland and Irish agriculture'' is simply not true.

The withdrawal of Part 3 - the crucial nutrient management section of the statutory instrument is a clear indication that the issue has not been well handled and that the policy and details developed by Dick Roche and officials from Environment and Agriculture could not be let stand.

We are not seeing straight talking in the discussions on water quality. A press release from the Department of the Environment issued last week said Ireland had 20% of its water polluted. The figure was higher than people had expected and took most people by surprise.

It now transpires that the 20% figure repeated again by Minister Dick Roche on television with IFA president Padraig Walshe and Teagasc's Pat Dillon came from the Water Framework Directive where the 25 part per million figure is mentioned as a desirable benchmark, but in no way as either an objective or as a legal standard.

To describe waters which don't meet this standard as polluted and by inference as agriculturally polluted is grossly misleading. Many would term it as simply lies. The relevant figure is 50 ppm, a standard which is met by almost all Irish water. Interestingly, the same day Ireland was singled out a the World Economic Forum in Davos where our water was ranked as the best in the EU and on a par with Norway and Switzerland. The Dutch hope to get to the 50ppm level by 2015.

What is motivating the issuing of misleading press releases and the dishonest presentation of figures. This is not what we expect from an Irish Government and an Irish Civil Service.

We do not exaggerate the result of the Nitrates Directive - both the nitrogen and phosphorus elements are of fundamental importance to Irish farming's future. We must not sacrifice our natural competitiveness for no discernible environmental gain. The IFA is right to pull out of the partnership talks until the relevant issues to be discussed are clarified. The amount of nitrogen that can be applied must be part of these discussions.

We note that at Wednesday's Dail Environment Committee Meeting that Dr Seamus Crosse the lead scientist in Teagasc said that their scientific advice on both phosphates and nitrogen had not been followed by Government. The fog thickens.