Nitrates Derogation: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28 ============================================================ Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South It is a catch-22. We want to make sure that we are fair to everybody. Senator Lynch raised points about TAMS earlier. A total of €153 million has been paid out for low-emission slurry spreading and nutrient storage since 2015. A 60% grant is available for nutrient storage. As was mentioned earlier, I commend the work of our colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy John Cummins, in the Department of housing with responsibility for planning, who has brought forward that commitment around the planning exemption on slurry storage, which, again, is important. The resourcing of habitats assessments was discussed. We have experience carrying this out in forestry, as well as in regard to aquaculture licences. We will recruit the relevant personnel and get the assessments under way as soon as possible. Senator Daly mentioned lag times. I agree. Previously there were not only lag times but also a strong sense of frustration at the goalposts being moved all the time. We have stability now. While we have new conditionality around the habitats directive, farmers' continued work in the area of water quality is just as important. There has been a stepping up of ambition, as there was in every one of the previous NAPs. NAP 6 is another step-up in ambition and conditionality. That is the strength of the habitats directive. When people from an environmental perspective knock this, what they fail to recognise is that in return for being able to operate at a higher stocking density, our farmers are voluntarily putting their hand up for extra conditionality. They are the farmers who are really up for doing things and taking on those extra measures, as well as the baseline measures that are in the nitrates action programme for all. That is an important part of that. Senator Daly mentioned that it was a fluid situation. I was not sure whether he intended the pun, but he is absolutely right, in particular regarding cow banding. The efforts made in the past, and the other steps that frustrated farmers around moving the goalposts, have been really important. The mid-term review made a change there, but when the points were put to me in the negotiations around reducing 220 to 210, that was not acceptable to me. The cap on new entrants, for the very point Senator Lynch made on generational renewal, was not acceptable to me. Senator Daly also talked about the CAP money being important. I agree. It is a whole-of-government approach. It is really important to the entire country. The reason is that, as a net contributor, per capita , Ireland is one of the biggest contributors to the EU budget. We pay in more than we get back, but 75% of receipts from the EU to the Irish Exchequer are through the Common Agricultural Policy. This is not just about farmers in our rural communities. If we do not get a fully funded CAP and the maximum amount of money in there, our whole Exchequer will lose because this is our best vehicle for getting as much as possible back from what we put into Europe. I am proud that, because of our strong economy and the investment in structural funds in the eighties and beyond, we have put ourselves in a strong position to be a net contributor, but we want to get as much back as we can, and the Common Agricultural Policy is the best vehicle for doing that. I completely agree with Senator Tully's points. Farmers need clarity. They need adequate funding. We have listed a series of measures, such as €60 million for the farming for water EIP and a range of different supports. The Government has supported farmers in the past through the TAMS programme. I have talked about the €153 million for increased slurry storage and low-emission slurry spreading equipment. We are working with industry now. We are all leveraging that money together to support our farmers to make those efforts. We as a Department are investing heavily in the areas around appropriate assessment. That will be an intensive body of work for us and our Department to take on. I thank Senator Kennelly for his points regarding Kerry. That is so important. When people raise the derogation with me, there has been a sense in some people's minds that this is about big farmers. What has struck me in travelling around the country, both as a Minister of State and in the last year, has been the palpable sense of panic in places like Timoleague in south-west Cork, Monaghan, Clare and Kerry. Those derogation farmers are not big farmers. A loss of derogation, if you have 80 or 85 cows and are dropping to 69 or 70 cows, is the difference between viability and non-viability. We are not talking about profit margin here. We are talking about viability. Those farmers are operating to a very high environmental standard, and the Government is supporting them in doing that. I commend everyone and thank them for their contributions to this debate. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-28