Brian Cowen
Question:2 Mr. Cowen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry whether, under the revised specifications for the REP scheme, a farmer making silage can comply with the scheme without having a silage effluent tank. [13922/96]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - REP Scheme.
The scheme's original specifications required a participant farmer to have, by the end of the first year of the REPS plan, at least seven cubic metres of storage capacity per 100 tonnes of silage. In the revised specifications the period for meeting this requirement was extended to the end of the third year of the plan. Unfortunately, in the printing of the revised specifications the direct reference to the storage of silage effluent was omitted. An addendum has now been issued to clarify the position.
In any event it is possible for a farmer making silage to comply with the requirements of the rural environment protection scheme without having a silage effluent tank at the time of application. There is a requirement under the scheme that this can only take place where the approved professional planner considers that the statutory requirements to avoid pollution can be complied with through careful use and good management of existing facilities. Such facilities must be specified in the REPS plan.
The Deputy will appreciate there is no requirement to have any effluent tank for baled silage produced from wilted grass as such silage does not normally produce effluent.
When was that addendum made to the regulations? Was it as a result of my question or was it done prior to that?
It was done prior to that.
Is the Minister concerned, given the review of REPS as a result of ministerial and departmental suspicion that plans may not have been complied with, and REPS planners had submitted plans where the work had not been done? How does the Minister square the Department's concern with the change in the regulations which now leaves the responsibility solely with the planner to ensure the integrity of this scheme is maintained? Why has the Department sought to deregulate this scheme? Is the Minister concerned that its integrity could be put at risk if pollution arose from non-compliance by the planners?
All farmers have legal responsibilities under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977, and the amendment of that Act in 1990. REPS will not give a licence to anyone to pollute.
We are now inspecting plans on foot of which a REPS grant has been paid. A polluter will be punished; there is no place in REPS for any polluter. We are trying to put in place proper, sensible and responsible storage management. There was a recent allegation in one of the national newspapers about REPS and pollution in Cork. Neither of the two farmers involved were in REPS and both had adequate pollution control facilities in place.
We are trying to encourage sensible management of waste storage and muck spreading and to get farmers to spread half their waste before 1 July and the remainder by September. We are also trying to encourage them to spread waste during the winter if the land and weather are suitable. Previous specifications stated that farmers could not spread any waste from November to January. We have removed that specification as certain parts of the country has land suitable for spreading waste during the winter, weather permitting. The REP scheme encourages people to be responsible.