The areas where water quality is static are those which have fewer derogation farmers, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon told attendees of the Listowel Food Festival on Monday night last.

In a wide ranging address, he said that the two most common concerns that farmers have raised with regarding the nitrates derogation have been around the areas of generational renewal and having some longer term certainty.

Earlier in the day when he met local IFA and ICMSA representations, where the issue of TB came up.

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He told the meeting that there could be two tough years ahead and with a possibility of up to 62,000 reactors next year.

He said he couldn’t have secured an extra €85m for TB eradication for a business as usual approach to stamping out the disease.