Agri-industry must manage waste properly
Secondly, UCC boffins confirmed the whale in Cork harbour died of natural causes before it was dumped. Thirdly, if there was intensive farming anywhere near Dollymount Strand in Dublin, we’d still be waiting for the Blue Flag.
Yes, we are all responsible for pollution, but if you want confirmation of the agri-industry’s belief that it is not bound by the same rules as the rest of us, look at the opposition to the EU’s phosphates directive. Ireland’s water does not belong to the farming community to pollute as it will - it belongs to all of us.
Thomas Herlihy, in your letters column of the same date, is correct when he fingers local authorities as recidivist polluters and the time has long passed when they can continue to do so without incurring severe penalties.
But no matter how John Dillon’s stormtroopers bellow and blockade, the reality is simple. Just as some farmers had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the real world on tax, food traceability and animal disease, the game is up on pollution. Those who persist, despite extensive grant aid, to mismanage their waste, must be stopped. The vast majority of farmers act responsibly. However, the institutionalised belief in some sectors that the environment is just a factory for farming is history.
Seán de Paor
Kilbredegoa
Co Chorcaí
