I am aware of the concerns of the North-Western Regional Fisheries Board regarding the use of fertilisers by Coillte Teoranta. The board's concerns arise largely from an incident in the Ballycastle area of County Mayo in July 2000 where Coillte Teoranta applied fertiliser by air to a site. It is worth noting that the North-Western Regional Fisheries Board approved of the aerial fertilisation project which it is now acknowledged caused a degree of damage to adjacent watercourses. My Department was not directly involved in this matter but subsequently an Inspector from its forest service investigated and reported on it. This report concluded that this site was not suited to the aerial method of fertilisation and a more conventional method of fertilisation should have been employed. The forest service plans to publish aerial fertilisation for forestry guidelines by December 31 2001 which will augment the current forestry and water quality guidelines as well as the code of best forest practice, copies of which have been placed in the Oireachtas Library.
The aerial fertilisation guidelines will represent best practice in this sensitive area and will limit aerial fertilisation to suitable sites where aquatic zones are not threatened. In addition, my Department plans to develop guidelines on phosphorous application which will cover fertiliser application. The production of these guidelines will involve consultation with interested parties including Coillte and the fisheries boards. Compliance with the guidelines will be a condition of grant aid and of the issue of a felling licence. My Department's forestry schemes, procedures and standards manual and code of best forest practice provide specific details on how fertiliser application should be carried out and penalties are provided for under the Department's schemes for non-compliance with these requirements. My Department's forest service inspectors visit sites and issue binding recommendations in relation to the application of fertiliser.
