Results 761-780 of 1,044,513 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ned O'Sullivan OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Bernard Durkan)
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: People involved in the farming groups, including one in Senator Paul Daly's county, and farmers around the country are watching a lot of what is going on and are getting proactive. There seems to be considerable runoff. When you see green grass growing behind a sewage treatment plan, you know that something is coming out, to put it simply. The farming community is sending us photos, day in...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I take Dr. Cotter's point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I understand that inspections happen on an annual basis.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Is anybody checking on the recording in every plant? Dr. Cotter mentioned 73 areas. How many Uisce Éireann plants are there around the country?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Would it be fair to say that the EPA is looking at 15% of them? Dr. Cotter mentioned 73 sites.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: Is there any person-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: That is all right. Dr. Cotter said "on an annual basis". Does she mean once a year?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: What is the average?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: That is all right. I am throwing out a question to the witnesses. I presume the EPA has all the records of every plant in Ireland. Is that the case?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: The records of the loads that are taken out and brought to another treatment plant. There is a flow meter. I will put it simply for anybody who understands sewerage. There is a flow meter in and a flow meter out. When you treat your sewage, you have a flow meter going out that indicates how many cubic metres have been let out and a flow meter going in that indicates how many cubic metres...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I take Mr. Byrne's point and thank him for answering. I am asking about the EPA's monitoring. Say I have a sewage treatment plant. It is like having a 100 horsepower tractor and a 200 horsepower tractor, to put it simply. Our witnesses will know what I am on about. For processing, one plant could be twice the size of another. Does the EPA know the amount of sewage that comes into the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I think there was one derogation farmer in Leitrim and he is gone. Based on reports, levels of phosphorous in Leitrim was high. Leitrim is covered in forestry. Was this the cause of it?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I am asking about the volume in cubic metres of raw sewage that is coming in to be sorted. In some cases, in fairness, the sewage is taken away by lorries and brought to a bigger plant. Does the EPA have that information? It would be worthwhile for the EPA to look through the records. It contradicts everything that I was brought up with that in wet weather, fewer loads are brought away...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I am thinking of the likes of the derogation. Let us think of a scenario whereby every farmer puts every drop of water they have into a tank and never puts out slurry. Near me, in Ballymoe, County Galway, is one of the cleanest rivers - you can look it up - the Island River. There are monitoring stations along it. Unfortunately, a treatment plant was supposed to be done for the past seven,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I think it is four.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: When it comes into the last phase, it gets into a bit of bother, although I know it is earmarked to be done up. When the EPA does its overall report, because that treatment plant has not been brought up to the specifications, does that bring down the good part? How does it work?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: The Department of housing was in here and its representatives said the model Europe wants us to use is not the model it would use. Does the EPA have anything to say about that? My understanding is the EPA gets data about how many cattle are in an area and how many treatment plants or whatever. Has that modelling ever been looked at to see that it is accurate? Is there a different type of...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: It was peer-reviewed in journals.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I might come back on the plants. Does the EPA know the cubic metres coming in and going out for every plant?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2024)
Michael Fitzmaurice: I am just looking at the witnesses' graphs. What does the second one mean?