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The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has insisted that it did not agree to a ban on unprotected urea at the agriculture water quality group.
The farm body claimed that the Department of Agriculture had included references to a ban on unprotected from September next year in draft minutes from a meeting of the group in early October.
However, the IFA said the minutes were not agreed by the group.
“In fact, at the subsequent meeting of the group on 17 October, issues were raised by [the] IFA and others with these ‘draft minutes’ and they were not approved. Members were invited to make submissions on the draft minutes,” the IFA stated.
“While the uptake of protected urea in our sector has been positive, there are some concerns about the consistency of the product,” the IFA claimed.
“We need to continue to encourage take-up and to improve the product and its availability.
"Banning straight urea until these concerns are fully addressed is not the right approach and could be counterproductive,” the association said.
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