Madam, - The quality of our water and how we protect it is a very important issue.
Contrary to the impression Mr John Dillon, President of the IFA, gave on the radio last week, the nitrates directive is not an attempt by the Green Party to make life difficult for farmers.
It is the European Commission that has been trying for 13 years to get Ireland to implement this measure to protect our water supplies. The vast majority of Ireland's 120,000 farmers will be able to live quite happily within the nitrates directive. According to Teagasc only 2 to 3 per cent of farmers will find themselves in difficulties with the draft action programme.
The European Commission has been watching the nitrates levels in Ireland for years. Ireland is currently before the European Court of Justice on the issue and a judgment is expected early next month.
The potential health problems caused by high nitrate levels in drinking water and the algal blooms that damage coastal waters and marine life have all been well documented. Twenty per cent of ground water in Ireland has elevated nitrate levels. Drinking water that breached the required standard for nitrates was found in 15 counties, according to the EPA's most recent report on the quality of drinking water in Ireland. Agricultural practices account for the vast majority of this pollution.
In all about 40,000 farmers will be affected by the draft action programme. But it is high-density dairy and pig farmers who have problems with it. They are the biggest polluters. They don't represent the majority of farmers but they are the "biggest" in the sense that they have big operations and dominate the policy making of farm organisations.
If farmers require serious slurry storage facilities it is because they are intensive farmers. The cost is directly related to the number of animals they have. Intensive farming is a profit making business. Pollution control measures should be regarded as a necessary investment in that business.
If we don't implement the nitrates directive the European Commission will take legal action against Ireland. It will not be the IFA which picks up the bill but the ordinary taxpayer. Not only will people be denied clean water supplies, they will end up paying for it too. - Yours, etc.,
PATRICIA McKENNA MEP,
(Green Party),
Molesworth Street,
Dublin 2.