EU Directives Dail Éireann — 2021-07-15 ============================================================ Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal Approximately 14,500 ha of maize are grown in the country. As we have discussed, there are two types of system - the uncovered approach and the covered approach. The covered approach is a more expensive one. With the inputs, it is about €300 per hectare but the yields tend to be far more stable, higher and more weather-resistant. The evidence is that in the region of 90% of maize crops in the country are covered, while 10% are uncovered. It is, therefore, something that is posing a challenge and we must make every effort to find sustainable alternatives that do not have the negative impact of plastic. We all agree that this can be quite damaging. I am happy to engage with the sector in any way I can and to work with the particular constituency that has been in contact with the Deputy regarding these issues in order to try to address the challenge. --- 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/dail/2021-07-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:32+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-07-15