Vol. 452 No. 8
212 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the views, if any, he has on the twin threats posed to Ireland by agricultural pollution, namely, nitrate pollution of drinking water and eutrofication of Irish lakes and rivers endangering employment in the tourism industry. [8406/95]
Over the last five years some £170 million has been paid to over 30,000 farmers for pollution control works on their farms under the control of farmyard pollution (CFP) and farm improvement programme (FIP) schemes. This represents an investment by farmers of over £400 million. A further £96 million will be allocated to farmers in the next four years for pollution control work.
My Department has also introduced the rural environmental protection scheme (REPS) which requires participating farmers to have a waste management and fertilization plan drawn up for their farm. My Department with the Department of the Environment has also drawn up a code of practice dealing with the storage and handling of farm wastes under the Nitrates Directive.
All these measures will continue to minimise any adverse impact of agricultural activity on drinking water and on lakes and rivers.
