Slurry spreading 'should be set by weather conditions only' - TD
Farmers having to spread slurry in heavy rain "just because of the date" is not helping Ireland's water quality, a TD has warned in the Dáil.
According to the Sinn Féin TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, Natasha Newsome Drennan, "slurry spreading should be set by weather conditions only".
She believes that the example of farmers spreading slurry in the rain underlines why calendar farming "does not always work".
During a debate on National Biodiversity Week, which is underway across the country, Deputy Drennan said that rural Ireland "must be the driving force" in combating biodiversity crisis and "pulling our habitats back from the brink of destruction".
"It is now seven years since a biodiversity emergency was declared in Ireland, yet we are still not acting with the urgency that declaration demands.
"All stakeholders across the sector - especially in rural communities - need to come together and work collectively on it," she added.
Slurry
Labour Party TD, Ciarán Ahern, also stressed during the Dáil debate that "farmers are not the enemy of biodiversity".
"Many farmers are among the strongest defenders of our landscapes and ecosystems.
"We need a just transition for farming communities that rewards environmental stewardship, supports family farms, protects water quality and ensures farmers can earn a decent living while restoring biodiversity".
But he also warned that"excess nitrogen and phosphorus are fuelling eutrophication, algal blooms and oxygen depletion" in Irish aquatic ecosystems.
"That is why the EU nitrates directive exists. It was introduced to protect waters from agricultural pollution and to improve water quality across Europe.
"lreland’s nitrates action programme is supposed to reduce the run-off of slurry and fertilisers into rivers and groundwater. However, year after year, we have seen the same pattern emerge," Deputy Ahern said.
