I thank Deputy Batt O'Keeffe for raising this important matter. The recent fish kills in the Cork area are an unfortunate reminder of the need for extreme vigilence in relation to the discharge of effluents to rivers and lakes. The summer months are the high risk period for waterways when water levels are generally lower and when accidental spillages, if they occur, will have greatest impact. Both fish kills have their origins in the agricultural sector and are currently under investigation by Cork County Council.
While these fish kills have had an immediate and well documented effect it is worth recording that the numbers of such kills have thankfully been falling in recent years. In 1987 there were 122 fish kills and in 1989, 111. This fell to 60 in 1991, 51 in 1992, 33 in 1993 and 31 in 1994. The 1994 total was the lowest on record. The present fish kills are the first recorded this year.
Another feature of this overall downward trend is the decline in the level of fish kills caused by farm related activities; these were traditionally the main cause of fish kills. Farm related fish kills fell from 85 in 1987 to three in 1993 and ten in 1994. The fall can generally be attributed to thousands of farm surveys carried out throughout the country since 1988 by the local authorities, with co-operation from Teagasc and other agencies, at the request of my Department, which led to the identification of high and medium risk farms and appropriate remedial action programmes.
Awareness of environmental risk among farmers has also increased and more than 30,000 farmers have been grant-aided for pollution control works under the control of farmyard pollution scheme. Indeed the current difficulties with the CFP scheme in terms of the large volume of applicants must be seen as an indication of the greater environmental awareness of farmers which I welcome. I fully support the efforts of my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, to seek additional financing for this scheme and to minimise the impact of the present restrictions.
Regarding legislative controls, there are already in place extensive controls under physical planning and water pollution legislation designed to deal with the agricultural sector.
Under planning legislation, the provision of silage pits is subject to planning permission requirements, and the provision of new, stand-alone, slurry storage facilities also needs permission. Where new animal housing is being provided, within the floor area and other exemption limits, it is a requirement that effluent storage facilities be provided as part of the development; these facilities must be adequate to serve the new structure having regard to, inter alia, the need to avoid water pollution. Where the conditions and limitations attached to the exemptions in the planning regulations are not complied with in these cases, the status of exempted development is forfeited. It is a matter for planning authorities to use the enforcement powers available to them as required in the circumstances applying locally.
Under the Water Pollution Acts 1977 and 1990 it is an offence to cause or permit the entry of polluting matter into waters. Local authorities have substantial powers to regulate or restrict practices on premises, including land, which could result in the pollution of waters. These include express provision for remedial measures such as replacement of fish stocks and the making good of consequential losses incurred by any person as a result of the pollution.
As regards the Environmental Protection Agency, integrated pollution control licensing of environmentally complex activities is one of the primary functions of the Environmental Protection Agency. The full range of activities licensable under this comprehensive and modern environmental control system is set out in the First Schedule to the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992. Integrated licensing of scheduled activities commence on 16 May 1994 and is being introduced on a phased basis. Earlier this year I extended the system to a broader range of new and established activities, and I intend progressively to extend the system to the full schedule of licensable activities.
Intensive agriculture is one of the classes of activity listed in the First Schedule to the Act. Licensing of new or established activities in this class has not yet commenced but will clearly be a matter for consideration in the context of future extensions of the licensing system.
The licensing of slurry and silage pits is not included under the intensive agriculture class of activity in the First Schedule to the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992. Integrated licensing is a complex and demanding management and control system aimed at the elimination or minimisation of the effects of pollution from industry and other intensive activities which impact on more than one environmental medium. It would not be appropriate or efficient to introduce integrated pollution control licensing for individual slurry and silage pits. Practical considerations also dictate that pollution control of normal scale farming activities should rest with local authorities rather than the Environmental Protection Agency. The Environmental Protection Agency is a national authority with a current staff of some 120 and an intended full staff complement of less than 200. Direct licensing activity by Environmental Protection Agency must be targeted at specialised processes with complex environmental impacts.
By contrast, local authorities employ some 26,500 full time staff enabling them to maintain the presence on the ground that is required to monitor a widespread activity such as farming.
It was with interest that I heard the County Manager in Cork say that he would require half the Irish Army to monitor the water courses in County Cork. That gives an indication of the scale of monitoring required and the need for co-operation from all interests.
I have made it clear that strong enforcement powers are available to local authorities and that these should be fully deployed. At the same time, it must be recognised that regulations above are not the full answer to pollution prevention. Awareness is also the key, and I would like to take this opportunity to again appeal to all farmers, industrialists, local authorities and others who manage effluent wastes to exercise the maximum care for the environment.
