I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, to the Seanad Chamber.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Sports Funding
Cuirim fáilte ar ais go dtí an Teach seo roimh an Aire Stáit inniu. I thank the Minister of State for taking time out of his busy schedule to be here.
I, like many other sports fans in the country, was delighted with the successful bid by the UK and Ireland to host the 2028 European championship. This has given sports fans a major tournament to look forward to. I commend the Minister of State on his input into the successful bid.
However, with the logistics of the tournament and the investment to be made in Antrim’s Casement Park, fears have grown locally in Monaghan, in particular, in Clones, about the future of St. Tiernach’s Park, the spiritual home of the Ulster final. If a stadium could talk, St. Tiernach’s Park would regale us with tales of epic battles and legions of exuberant supporters through the years. Apart from a genuine affection for the place and the memories of thousands of fans, the importance of the Ulster final in Clones simply cannot be understated. Thousands of people descending upon the small town and stopping along the way there and back at shops, pubs, service stations and cafés brings in considerable money, not just to the town of Clones but the entire economy of County Monaghan.
Socially and economically, we cannot begrudge the reinvigoration of west Belfast and its potential for commerce and employment. We have noted the comment made by An Taoiseach that he is willing to invest in the redevelopment of the facility in Belfast. However, Clones also has great potential. The local community has worked diligently and earnestly in recent decades to promote the town's cause and future. They point out that nowhere suffered more economically during the years of conflict than the once-bursting Border town of Clones. In addition, no town holds its stadium more closely to its heart than the people of Clones do. The euro, pounds, pennies and cents that come to Clones and its hinterland - not to mention the wider business community in Monaghan – are seismic to the local economy.
For these reasons, fears are growing locally that Casement Park’s gain could be Clones’ loss. I sincerely hope the Minister of State can assuage those fears this afternoon so that the people of Clones can look forward to developing St. Tiernach’s Park even further to host many other big matches in the future.
I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I am in the county next door to him but in a different province, so we do not get to be in Clones often, if ever.
We are here to discuss sports investment, and that will continue. I had the opportunity to discuss it in the Dáil last Thursday. I invite the Leader and Senators, if they so wish, to have a full debate on sports capital funding, as we did in the Dáil. I would be happy to do so here.
Regarding the Department’s responsibility, the sports capital and equipment programme is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sport and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. More than 13,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocation in that time to more than €1.15 billion. We all agree the sports capital and equipment programme has transformed the sporting landscape, with improved sports facilities in every town and village in the country.
The programme for Government commits to continuing the SCEP and to targeting the investment in disadvantaged areas. Last year, the final allocations under the latest completed round of the programme were announced. The total allocated was over €166 million, which was the highest level of funding ever allocated under the programme. The allocations included an allocation of almost €180,000 for modernisation works at Clones stadium. I understand that the stadium also benefited from other SCEP grants in recent years.
With regard to future allocations, the latest round of the 2023 SCEP closed for applications on Friday, 8 September. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications, the number of which has been very large, is now under way. I understand from talking to Senator Gallagher that an application has been received for further improvement works at Clones stadium. We will in due course publish the list of applications on the website in the interests of transparency. Work is now under way on finalising the scoring assessment and assessment manual for the 2023 round and I hope to have it published in the coming weeks. Simultaneously, I also plan to publish the full list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. Once these documents are published, the detailed assessment work can commence.
In this regard, it is planned to assess the equipment-only applications first with a view to announcing these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on the assessment of the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024. I assure Senator Gallagher that every effort will be made to provide funding for as many worthwhile projects as possible.
Regarding larger sports projects, the national sports policy was published in 2018 and provided for the establishment of a new large scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. The aim of the LSSIF is to provide support for larger sports facilities where the Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the SCEP.
The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to local authorities and national governing bodies, NGBs, of sport. All applications were assessed in accordance with the published evaluation procedures and guidelines and the first allocations were announced in January 2020. Thus far, approximately €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals. A number of GAA projects received grant funding under this first call such as Walsh Park in Waterford, Pairc Tailteann in Navan and St. Conleth's Park in Kildare.
I visited phase one of the Walsh Park redevelopment completed in late August. This project involved the construction of a new uncovered 3,404-seater northern stand. Main construction work has also commenced in St. Conleth's Park in Kildare with the aim for that redevelopment project to be completed next year.
It will, of course, be open to the stakeholders to apply for further funding for Clones stadium under a future call for proposals under the LSSIF. In this regard, I will continue to engage with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform regarding the additional funding required and the timing and terms and conditions of any new round of the LSSIF will be announced in due course.
I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response. I issue an invitation to him to visit Clones to see St. Tiernach's Park for himself. I have no doubt that he will be hugely impressed with it. In many ways, the future of Clones depends on the future of St. Tiernach's Park. We certainly do not begrudge the redevelopment of Casement Park one penny but the Government must also not forget Clones in that process. I am confident that with the Minister of State at the helm, this will not happen. I am not applying undue pressure at this point in time but I look forward to the Minister of State visiting Clones, as are the local Gaels in Clones. I attended the county final there last Sunday and it was a fantastic occasion with almost 7,000 people in attendance. The facility looked fantastic, which is a credit to the local GAA club and its volunteers who worked so hard in the process. We all want to St. Tiernach's Park and Clones to have a bright future and I am asking the Government to keep that in mind.
The Ulster GAA council will make its own decisions about stadiums but to be clear, Clones is not in competition with Casement Park from a Government point of view. The primary responsibility for the funding of Casement Park is really with the GAA but also the British Government, which has given an unconditional commitment to ensure the funding is there for Casement Park. The Taoiseach has said that we may be in a position to support that and the details of that can be worked out but this is not in competition with Clones.
As Casement Park would not be eligible to apply for LSSIF funding, for example, due to the structure of the island at the moment, that is not going to happen.
If the GAA or Monaghan County Council wish to prioritise Clones as a project, it will be open to them to apply for significant funding under the LSSIF, which is on a much bigger scale than the SCEP. Clones has received significant funding from the SCEP in recent years. I know the Senator was key in fighting for that. It received €350,000 in 2018 and there was almost €180,000 in the most recent round of the SCEP. The latter sum has yet to be drawn down. Significant funding is being sought in this round of the SCEP. The advocacy of the Senator is noted. If I were involved in St. Tiernach's GFC, Monaghan GAA or Ulster GAA, I would certainly be looking at what can be done to ensure the stadium is kept up to high standards and matches continue to be held there. I have no doubt matches will continue to be played there. As the Senator stated, people have strong memories of great experiences going to matches at the stadium and I am sure they want that to continue. We want to have more facilities. Casement Park will be an addition to the island when it is done, and Clones stadium is there. We want to see them all progress.
Low Pay Commission
The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is very welcome to the House, as always.
I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss it. It involves a simple ask of the Government: when does it expect to receive the report of the Low Pay Commission on youth rates of the minimum wage? I ask the Minister of State to provide a clear timeline for publication of the report when he receives it.
I tabled this Commencement matter having read the transcript of the meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment last week. I was particularly concerned that the chairperson of the commission considered the estimated number of people on sub-minimum rates of youth pay to be a small number. I hope that is not a reflection of the priority given to the report by the commission. I am sure it is not a reflection of such but, as one cannot be certain from inside this House, I decided to table a Commencement matter to ascertain when the Government expects to receive the report.
The number of people affected by sub-minimum rates of pay is certainly not small. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, places it at 34,000. As Deputy Barry pointed out at the committee meeting to which I referred, if there is an estimated 150,000 people on the minimum wage, we are talking about one quarter of those workers earning below the minimum wage. As the Minister of State will be aware, those aged 16 or 17 can be paid 70% of the minimum wage, those aged 18. 80% of the rate and those aged 19, 90%. A person is not legally entitled to the minimum wage until he or she reaches the age of 20. In its pre-budget submission, the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, noted that, based on a 35-hour working week, an 18-year-old will earn more than €4,000 less in a year than a 20-year-old performing the same role. The NYCI stated that sub-minimum rates are discriminatory, leave young workers open to exploitation and put many young people providing for themselves and their families in financial difficulty at a time of high costs. It also notes that Ireland is one of only four countries in the EU27 to have age-based rates in place for young workers.
When does the Government expect to receive the report on youth rates of the minimum wage? Is there a timeline for publication of the report following its receipt from the Low Pay Commission?
I am grateful to Senator Warfield for submitting this timely and important Commencement matter. Before I get into the specifics of the sub-minimum wage rate, it is important to lay out the context in which we are discussing it, with regard to the national minimum wage. We all know it has increased as part of the budget to €12.70 per hour. That will come into effect from 1 January. This represents an €1.40 increase, or 12.4%, on the current national minimum wage. This is the tenth increase to the minimum wage since 2011. It is a significant one that should not be underestimated. The increase in the national minimum wage will mean that those working under certain conditions, under the ages of 18, 19 and 20, will receive corresponding increases in their pay, as they are currently entitled by law. I will not go into the rates, as Senator Warfield has laid them out already.
The current system of sub-minimum rates is based on the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, which last examined this issue in 2017. We are six years on now. It is important to note that many employers are already paying workers under 19 the full minimum wage and they are entitled to disregard the sub-minimum rates where they want to. Last year, the then Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Leo Varadkar, requested the Low Pay Commission to again examine the issues relating to retaining or removing the sub-minimum or youth rates and to make recommendations on the subject. The Low Pay Commission takes an evidence-based approach to its work and asked the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, to conduct background research on the issue. I understand that this research report has been submitted to the commission and will be published by the ESRI early next month.
During the summer, the Low Pay Commission held a targeted stakeholder consultation on the sub-minimum rates issue, which will also inform its deliberations on this work. The commission is made up of both employer and employee representative groups, which take all matters and perspectives into consideration when making any recommendation to Government. The Low Pay Commission has indicated that it intends to submit its report and recommendations to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, before the end of the year. There has been no change to this timeline. The Low Pay Commission has been working to this timeline since it commenced this work. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, will then publish the commission’s report, while considering its contents and recommendations and the appropriate next steps.
I appreciate the Minister of State's response. There is no reason to believe that we will not have a report by Christmas, a year on from the commencement of the draft report. I failed to reference the issue of low pay for migrant workers and young workers, particularly women, since there is a gender aspect to this, as well as single parents, people with disabilities and people who face multiple forms of discrimination. They still have a far higher probability of being on the minimum wage or being low-wage earners than other groups. I thank the Minister of State for coming in and the Cathaoirleach for accepting the Commencement matter.
The Senator briefly on a couple of issues that I could speak for much longer than a minute about. I would appreciate the chance to come back into the House to perhaps have a wider discussion. One thing I would be heartened about, parallel to this, is that in second quarter of this year, we recognised the job rates and decrease in unemployment, and 75% of people returning to work were women. That shows progress in bringing people back into the workforce. I fundamentally agree with the Senator and I would like to work further to make sure that people are going in at a higher wage rate. That is a topic for a totally different issue and day. Specifically on sub-minimum rates, once that report is published, we will consult, and I will be more than happy to come in and discuss it with the House. As I said, we hope to make a decision on this early in the new year, once we receive the report.
I thank the Minister of State. I will pass on his interest in coming in for a wider discussion to the Leader. I am sure that would be facilitated and it would be very much appreciated. As always, I thank the Minister of State for his time. We understand how busy he is but he always makes time to come into the Seanad and we appreciate it.
Weather Events
The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is very welcome.
I thank the Minister of State for taking what I feel is a timely Commencement matter this afternoon on the need for a more specialised and location-specific warning system for extreme weather events in light of the recent flooding experienced in my own county, Waterford, Cork and many other areas.
I acknowledge at the outset the utter devastation that businesses and home owners have experienced over the past six days. On Saturday I visited Tallow, Clashmore and Knockanore in west Waterford and saw at first hand the carnage levelled on those areas with damage to infrastructure including roads and bridges. A clean-up was under way after water ran through homes and businesses from front to back and vice versa.
Yesterday heavy rainfall resulted in further businesses and homes in east Waterford being impacted including the Saratoga Bar, Woodstown, and Jack Meades Bar, near Faithlegg. The sense of desperation among those impacted was very visible. My heart goes out to every single one who has been impacted. The Cabinet is signing off on a support package at the moment for those affected. The Minister of State will agree that it must be flexible and agile to ensure the money gets to those who need it most in a timely fashion.
My question is on the need for a more location-specific flood warning system. The national flood forecasting and warning service was established in 2016 with the aim of enabling members of the public and local authorities to take more preparatory actions towards reducing the impact of flooding. Stage 1 of this was due to be implemented between 2016 and 2022 and stage 2 was due to run between 2022 and 2027. However, I understand stage 1 is yet to conclude. Will the Minister of State clarify whether this is the case and will he outline the timelines that will be in place from here on in order that we can have a more localised system put in place?
I understand that as part of stage 1, Met Éireann issues daily flood guidance statements to local authorities but these are on a countywide basis and are not made available to the public. Last week, an orange rainfall warning was issued for all of Waterford but the more heavy rainfall was more specific to west Waterford and east Cork, mainly between Cork city and Dungarvan. Similarly, yesterday an orange rainfall warning was in place for the entire county of Waterford. Thankfully, west Waterford did not receive the level of rainfall it received last week but east Waterford did and was impacted by flooding. Obviously, the bigger the county the bigger the potential divergence between the weather that impacts different areas. Our system needs to be more in line with the UK Met Office where areas are clearly delineated on a map and labelled accordingly. Within a county, there could be a red rainfall warning for a certain area and an orange advisory for the rest.
This morning I spoke to Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather who the Minister of State will know. He sent me examples of the type of warnings in place with the UK Met Office. They area far more appropriate basis on which to base our warnings than the county-by-county basis.
Of course, it is not just rainfall that impacts flooding. It is also saturated ground and water levels. The Office of Public Works, OPW, has about 500 monitors in places across catchment areas that feed in to the advisory note that is issued to local authorities but that detail is not issued to the public. It is only issued to the local authorities and they then have to interpret that. There is a case for that advice to be made on a more public basis and for the advisory warnings to be more location-specific. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would clarify the timelines.
We all share our solidarity with the people whose properties have been so badly affected by what happened over the last few days.
Absolutely. I thank the Senator for bringing this Commencement matter forward after a devastating few days in the southern part of the country and in many other parts of the country too. The increasing ferocity and frequency of these weather events is something that is catching us all. Unfortunately, it seems as though our future seems to have arrived. It is critically important to thank all the local authorities and the emergency services for their action, as well as the local communities, that meitheal that has always existed here in terms of people being able to support and help one another through what are really devastating times for businesses, households and communities all across the affected areas.
I reiterate that the proposal that is going to the Cabinet today on supports for local businesses will be a generous package. It is important to state that. Many businesses will have to pick up the pieces and literally try to start again from scratch, so it is critically important that we can give some support to them.
Met Éireann is Ireland's national meteorological service. It is maintained by the State under the UN World Meteorological Organization Convention of 1950. Met Éireann's warning system is in line with international best practice. It is based on the adoption of the common European framework and terminology for the presentation of weather warnings and the alignment of national weather warning systems with the international MeteoAlarm framework. Warnings are based on state-of-the-art ensemble-based numerical weather prediction, NWP, models and observations. There are several observations streams which include satellite imagery, observations of weather parameters and weather radar images. The observations and NWP guidance are used by Met Éireann's forecasters to produce forecasts and warnings.
Weather warnings are currently issued in two distinct channels, as stated by Senator Cummins. The first channel is to the public and these are delivered via Met Éireann's website and mobile applications as well as on both TV and radio forecasts. The second channel is via the established major emergency management framework in Ireland.
Met Éireann works continually to improve localised forecasts and warnings. Over recent years projects have included the development of a flood forecast centre, which is nearing the completion of its establishment phase, the introduction of probabilistic forecasting, and building a high-performance computing centre which will allow Met Éireann’s weather forecasts to be run at a higher resolution and at a higher frequency.
At the same time, Met Éireann is improving its observational infrastructure, most significantly with its plans to expand its weather radars from two to six. Met Éireann is also advancing plans to access artificial intelligence-machine learning, AI-ML, and novel weather satellite data to improve forecast capability. The above-mentioned advancements from Met Éireann would support a more localised warning system, as the Senator has called for, if warranted by an update to the major emergency management framework. Step 1, as requested by Senator Cummins, in regard to a localised system, is something Met Éireann is working towards. He also referred to the county-based traffic light coded warning system, which is based on the functional areas of local authorities in order to mobilise emergency services.
My own county of Kilkenny had an orange warning in place yesterday and it proved accurate because flooding incidents occurred from the tip of the county in Freshford right down to Thomastown and Inistioge as well.
Senator Cummins spoke of Carlow Weather. Niall Dollard of Kilkenny Weather very much backed up where the local areas of flooding might occur. Met Éireann is making significant improvements in terms of a localised system of weather warnings. It will help in the longer term with the preparedness of local communities to deal with these events.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. Unfortunately, there are no timelines for the implementation of a more localised approach. Perhaps he could follow up with a written response to me in that regard. While generalised weather warnings might have been appropriate yesterday from the north tip of Kilkenny down to the south of the county, often, as was the case last week and this week, it is more appropriate to have a higher level of warning for certain areas.
When we first implemented those warning systems, people paid good heed to them but unfortunately an element of fatigue has set in over time when people hear of yellow or orange warnings and it is really only red warnings that they pay attention to. Could we be more specific with the warning system? We could say, for example, that an orange rainfall warning in a specific area of a county is likely to lead to heavy flooding and that people should therefore take precautionary actions. That is something that would resonate more with the public and with businesses and that is the type of system we need. The sooner that can happen, the better.
I will take back that ask. A timeline for a localised approach is important. I had family members who lived in areas prone to flooding in Kilkenny city.
In the past, local knowledge gave a certain indication of when a flood would breach houses. However, what we are dealing with now is vastly different. A month of rainfall was dumped in an area in 24 hours. It would be useful to have local adaptation measures to protect properties in place that could prevent even a few inches of water coming into a house, which can be devastating.
On the bigger picture, we need to start looking at nature-based solutions to how we can attenuate the problem by holding water and letting it back into a catchment more slowly. It is critical, as we continue to adapt to climate change, that we look at nature as an option in trying to manage water catchments, when we have large bodies of water in areas where there are lots of hard surfaces. We will revert to the Senator about the timelines and the localised approach he asked for.
I thank the Minister of State and Senator Cummins for raising an important Commencement matter.
Agriculture Industry
I welcome the Minister of State to the House. My Commencement matter also relates to flooding. The exact wording is to ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage that some immediate provisional arrangements be made to allow farmers whose slurry storage facilities were flooded during Storm Babet to empty their tanks without fear of prosecution or penalty, considering the slurry spreading closed period commenced on 15 October.
I and the farmers are aware that under the good agricultural practice, GAP, for the protection of water regulations, SI 113 of 2020, farmers are still allowed to spread soiled water until 13 December. The problematic water is in essence just soiled water. While there were two extensions of the slurry spreading season, which were greatly welcome - I compliment the Department and the Minister for extending the season because we are all aware of the non-climatic conditions we had - unfortunately, many of the tanks which were emptied and made ready during the extended period are now full of water again as a result of the flooding.
I condole with the people who have lost a lot of property and big parts of their livelihoods, as we have seen on television in recent days. We have seen a lot of surface water. As the slurry tanks I am speaking about are all underground, they will be full before we even see water over ground. There is a large number of them. The biggest fear the farmers I have spoken to have is that if without agitating, they just take the water out, while they would be abiding by the regulations on safe spreading and buffer zones, they might be reported by people who are aware that the slurry spreading season is over. They would like to see a process, system or guarantee. Others may not be aware of the soiled water spreading condition because they are not dairy farmers - for example if they are beef farmers or some other people - and they might see them going out for the first time in a lifetime. What is the process? Will they be leaving themselves open? They are fearful of prosecution or cross-compliance loss of farm income, such as farm subsidies, although in essence, they would not be breaking the law under the nitrates regulations. They are asking for assurance that they can go and do safely what they know they can do legally without fear of consequences down the line.
I thank the Senator for raising another flooding-related issue that is also important, on whether provisional arrangements can be made to spread slurry due to the flooding of slurry storage facilities during Storm Babet.
First, I take this opportunity to again sympathise with all those who have been impacted by Storm Babet. It has been devastating for communities. These exceptional weather conditions have caused significant challenges for many people. For those farmers who have flooded slurry storage facilities there are a few issues that should be considered before taking action.
As the Senator mentioned, the GAP regulations allow for an extension of the slurry spreading season until 15 October, provided there are suitable ground and growth conditions and a favourable weather forecast to ensure that the slurry spreading will not impact on water quality.
The good agricultural practice, GAP, regulations allow for an extension of the slurry spreading season up until 15‘ October provided there are suitable grounds and growing conditions and a favourable weather forecast to ensure that the slurry spreading will not impact water quality. This year, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, approved the maximum extension, allowing farmers more time to empty their tanks before the start of the slurry spreading closed period. Therefore, those farmers following the best practice would have had empty slurry tanks before the storm. On farms where that is the case, the flood water in the slurry storage facilities is most likely soil water rather than slurry, as the Senator said. Under the good agricultural practices, GAP, regulations, soil water can be spread until early December provided the ground and weather conditions are suitable to prevent any run-off into streams and rivers. Local authorities are responsible for undertaking inspections and enforcement under the GAP regulations. Therefore, if any farmer is in doubt whether the contents of the slurry facilities are considered to be slurry or soil water, he or she should contact the local authority immediately. Where farmers decide to spread soil water in suitable ground and weather conditions, care must be taken to avoid agitating storage tanks that may result in slurry rather than soil water being spread. The spreading of slurry in unfavourable ground and weather conditions results in run-off to nearby streams, rivers and lakes, impacting water quality. We continue to see unsatisfactory trends in our water quality, as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is critically important that we work with farmers to ensure we minimise and eliminate any unwanted discharges into our water courses. We must turn that situation around.
The good agricultural practice, GAP, regulations allow for an extension of the slurry spreading season up until 15 October provided there are suitable ground and growth conditions and a favourable weather forecast to ensure that the slurry spreading will not impact water quality. This year, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, approved the maximum extension allowing farmers more time to empty their tanks before the start of the slurry spreading closed period and, therefore, those farmers following best practice would have had empty slurry tanks before the storm . On farms where that is the case, the flood water in the slurry storage facilities is most likely soiled water rather than slurry, as the Senator stated. Under the GAP regulations, soiled water can be spread until early December provided the ground and weather conditions are suitable to avoid any run-off to streams and rivers.
Local authorities are responsible for undertaking inspections and enforcement under the GAP regulations and, therefore, if any farmer is in doubt about whether the contents of slurry facilities are considered to be slurry or soiled water, he or she should contact the local authority immediately. Where farmers decide to spread soiled water in suitable ground and weather conditions, care must be taken to avoid agitating storage tanks as that may result in slurry rather than soiled water being spread.
The spreading of slurry in unfavourable ground and weather conditions results in run-off to nearby streams, rivers and lakes, thereby impacting water quality. We continue to see unsatisfactory trends in our water quality as reported by the EPA. It is critically important that we work with farmers to ensure we minimise and eliminate any unwanted discharges into our water courses. We must try to turn that situation around. We need to do all we can to prevent further impact by ensuring that slurry is spread when and where it is most needed by crops and as early in the season as is practicable. In the future, this will avoid these slurry storage capacity issues in line with good agricultural practice.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. There was common sense in his answer, which is unusual at times in these Houses. It is important that common sense prevails. As I said earlier, the farmers who are asking the question are doing so because they are cognisant of their roles and duties to the environment and water. They are compliant farmers. The Minister of State mentioned that local authorities can inspect. It is important that the message goes from the Department to the local authorities that where a farmer needs a decision, the process needs to be expedited. It needs to happen now. Another consequence of the weather we have had is its effect on the condition of grazing land. Farmers now have to put in their cattle. Depending on their location, they may have had grass for another fortnight, three weeks or one month, but that is all finished now because those grazing lands are saturated. The cattle have to go in and the tanks are full. If it is the case that somebody from the local authority needs to visit a farm, that needs to happen. There cannot be any bureaucracy or delay. It would help if that message would go from the Department to the local authorities. The farmers who are asking the questions are those who are compliant and are cognisant of their duties and roles, otherwise they would not ask the question.
I agree wholeheartedly. The vast majority of farmers have a great duty of care to the environment. Farmers who are unclear as to whether their tanks contain slurry or soil water should contact their local authorities. Going forward, farmers should prioritise emptying their slurry storage facilities as early in the growing season as possible. That is a practical measure. It will boast economic benefits for farmers as well as water quality benefits. The requirement to spread slurry at this stage of the year is avoidable with efficient management.
The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, recently raised the matter of slurry storage and management with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and asked him and his officials in the Department to continue to promote the early application of slurry to avoid such slurry storage capacity issues and to encourage farmers to put adequate slurry storage in place.
The Senator mentioned the local authorities. There are not enough officers in local authorities to deal with this issue. Some provisions in budget 2024 aim to help to rectify that situation. It is critically important that local authorities are the contact here. It is important that the responsible farmers the Senator is talking about, who want to do the right thing, have the right advice and the flexibility to manage their slurry in a sustainable way.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 1.44 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 2 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 1.44 p.m. and resumed at 2 p.m.