Sir, - I refer to a letter from Ms Teresa Murray of the Ballyglasson Environmental Action Group (September 7th). I wish to clarify IFA's position concerning licensing, by the Environmental Protection Agency, of intensive livestock production activities.
IFA has not objected to licensing of pig and poultry units by the EPA. What is of concern to the association is the excessive licence fees, and controls which go beyond the bounds of commonsense and the requirements for environmental protection. A farm family run pig unit with 100 sows, on gley soils, is being asked to pay a licence fee of £2,500 under the new regulation published by the Minister for the Environment.
We believe this is an outrageous demand by any State agency, and we object strongly to it. It is discriminatory, penal and grossly excessive relative to the cost of introducing controls to ensure protection of the rural environment, and relative to the fees payable by other industrial sectors licensed by the EPA.
Concerning the reference to fish kills in Ms Murray's letter, the EPA report on the State of the Environment, published earlier this year, recognises the "vigorous responses by farmers" to the upsurge in fish kills in the 1980s. The number in the period 1987 to 1990, at 334, was reduced to 175 in the period to 1994.
I totally disagree with Ms Murray's assessment of the quality of the Irish rural environment when she describes the experiences of BEAG. I also believe that the many urban dwellers who have chosen to move to the countryside for a better quality of life in a clean environment indicate that Ms Murray's assessment is way off the mark.
The Irish Farmers' Association is extremely proactive in promoting responsible farm practices to protect the environment among our members. These efforts include the active promotion of the new Code of Good Agricultural Practice produced by the Department of the Environment and the Department of Agriculture, in consultation with IFA, and the promotion of IFA's 10 point code on silage effluent. The association is also working towards progressing a farm plastics collection and recycling initiative with the plastics industry and the Department of the Environment.
There are plenty of regulatory bodies with far reaching powers to enforce the full sanction of the law against anyone who causes pollution. SemiState bodies with. these policing powers include the Central and Regional Fisheries Boards, local authorities and the EPA. As a farmer, I understand more than most that the future of my business and my industry depends on a green health environment. - Yours, etc.,
Chairman, IFA National Environment Committee,
The Irish Farmers' Association,
Irish Farm Centre,
Bluebell, Dublin 12.