asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of officers in his Department engaged on environmental activity.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Environmental Activity Officers.
101.
The normal work of many divisions of my Department can be said to impinge on environmental activities. Accordingly it is not feasible to specify the precise staff allocated to this work. Recently one senior officer has been assigned responsibility for the co-ordination of the Department's environmental activities.
Would the Minister agree that the intensive farming in pigs and poultry is causing a pollution difficulty? Would he consider getting a more intensive control over the disposal of wastes of this intensive farming in the future?
All the advice that is necessary is available free by way of Department leaflets to deal with this problem and all grants provided for farm buildings are contingent on these standards being met.
Will the Minister make greater efforts to go to the farmer rather than trying to attract the farmer to him?
The advisory services are being given instructions along these lines. I do not think it is necessary to give them because the instructors realise the importance of the matter.
Is the farmer not carrying out a more expensive method than that suggested by An Foras Talúntais?
I agree that some of them are more expensive. It depends a good deal on the soil.
The technique suggested by An Foras Talúntais is more to the advantage of the small farmer and this should be made known to him.