"Green" policies are destroying this country

Will you stop with the spoofing.

For someone who supposedly reads all those EPA reports you certainly are very selective in what you read.

The EPA clearly stated last year that 7.5 million litres of raw sewage from urban areas are dumped untreated daily into Irish rivers and seas.

But that`s all right it seems by you seeing as it`s urban and not rural.

Another one for you not to believe

That may be among their mission statements, but really they are only there to feather nests and empire build, among the cohort of Seanad voters and D4 chicken dinner eaters.

The first NGO to get the axe under any Government of mine, would be An Taisce. At least, they would lose all exchequer income.

A good place to make a start.

2020 An Taisce recieved almost €3 million of Irish taxpayers money. On top of that they also recieved €190,000 from Irish Water and €145,000 from local authorities as well as the SEAI, Rethink Ireland, and the EPA among others, but you won`t see them declaring that in their reports.

For a poster here that had no answer as to why An Taisce were highlighting rural septic tanks and could not answer why they were ignoring urban treatment plants, their failings and those of the state utility responsible, following the money might have been a much better path than his misconcieved anti-rural rant.

Certainly don't depend on Irish farmers to eat

Again I ask what proof have you got to make such a claim?

So your going to ignore the EPA stating that agricultural runoffs are the primary cause of water pollution. If your contention that urban sewage is the primary cause were true we would expect the worst water quality to be around the cities - where as the reality is that the worst water quality indicators track the areas of intensive dairy and beef agriculture - with the worst been clustered around the golden vale and midlands.

Not suit your ant- green narrative ?

As to your claim that we would starve if agriculture stopped polluting our waterways, we do not do agriculture in Ireland to feed the Irish - we do it for export earnings. No one would starve if farmers stopped polluting our waterway and correctly managed, no farmer need suffer.

Why do you imagine that millions of urban Irish should pay for a few hundred thousand farmers to pollute ? Here is my point, I am not remotely against responsible farming in Ireland - just the overstocked polluting type. Let me also state that it was the current FF/FG government who pushed farmers into been polluters by creating expansion targets and incentives - so that is where the primary blame lies.

The greens maybe your whipping boys - but the problems are real and were not created by the greens - they were created by the FF & FG duopoly which has set agricultural agendas since the foundation of the state.

Nice broad generalisations there "pay for a few hundred thousand farmers to pollute". It is a crime to release effluents into our waterways and each is investigated to the fullest degree, with charges brought against the one or two who are responsible. I've yet to see a single charge levied against the county councils and other authorities for overspill from their bailiwick. There's plenty of small factories and other businesses in the worst offending regions too that could equally be responsible, but there's sadly a handful of careless farms letting hundreds of thousands down.

Have to pull you up here

The worst water in the country is around Dublin, Kildare and Louth. Primarily these locations are heavily populated and the main farming enterprises are horticulture and tillage.

Cork has the most intensive dairy in the country, along with the most cows. Yet the waters of Cork are the cleanest in the country.

For once I actually agree with you. I rarely drive but don't use public transport much either - almost everything I need to do is within walking distance, but those who abuse the bus lanes are amongst the most dangerous drivers around. They travel at speed and often a little to close to pedestrians on the footpath. Plus it's got to be frustrating for all other traffic types seeing these jumping the queue.

I never said it wasn't agriculture.

Question though for you. Fertiliser usage in Ireland has reduced 14% in 2022. P is down 26% on 2021. How long do you think it will be until the water reflects this?

There has been an increase in fertiliser usage since milk quotas ended in 2015, yet only one year (2018) used more fertiliser than was used in 2000! Has anyone got any information on river water quality from 2000 and has the water quality improved over the 20 odd years in conjunction with the yearly fall in fertiliser usage?

What I mean to say is, if fertiliser is the primary cause, you'd expect to see water quality roughly improve as fertiliser goes down and get worse where fertiliser usage goes up, albeit with a lag to allow for N and P to leach into the watercourses.

I've medical dependency issues that prevent me from going anywhere. I wouldn't wish this captivity on anyone and I'm definitely not a model case for 15 minute nonsense. This is a grim existence.

Having everything in walking distance is how I've always liked to live anyway, sorry to hear of your struggles though