Michael Fitzmaurice questions readiness of 18 AD plants
Michael Fitzmaurice questioned whether the 18 anaerobic digestion plants would be ready by Christmas and said he expects only a quarter might be operational. He challenged perceived inconsistencies in EPA regulation for on‑farm versus community digesters, raised concerns about odour measurement, and requested figures on project progress and the 40 million.
Michael Fitzmaurice told the committee there are eight weeks to Christmas and expressed scepticism that all 18 plants will be ready. He said he cannot see too many of the 18 being ready and stated "we'll have a quarter of them," pressing officials for up-to-date numbers.
He asked why an individual farmer building an anaerobic digester faces no apparent EPA hassle, but a community project taking slurry from multiple farms is treated differently. Fitzmaurice said he visited the Grange plant and was told that when animal byproducts from multiple farms are accepted the project becomes subject to additional agricultural-type regulation.
Fitzmaurice questioned how odour can be measured objectively, saying what smells to one person may not smell to another. He noted operators emphasise professional practices and technologies - such as negative air systems and learning from EU producers - to minimise odour, but said he could not see any clear way to "measure odour."
He asked the committee to obtain the most recent progress report and for figures on the number of machines and whether the 40 million is in place. The request was put to the Department of Agriculture and officials for follow-up information as soon as possible.
Readiness of 18 plants
Michael Fitzmaurice told the committee there are eight weeks to Christmas and expressed scepticism that all 18 plants will be ready. He said he cannot see too many of the 18 being ready and stated "we'll have a quarter of them," pressing officials for up-to-date numbers.
EPA regulation inconsistency
He asked why an individual farmer building an anaerobic digester faces no apparent EPA hassle, but a community project taking slurry from multiple farms is treated differently. Fitzmaurice said he visited the Grange plant and was told that when animal byproducts from multiple farms are accepted the project becomes subject to additional agricultural-type regulation.
Odour measurement and mitigation
Fitzmaurice questioned how odour can be measured objectively, saying what smells to one person may not smell to another. He noted operators emphasise professional practices and technologies - such as negative air systems and learning from EU producers - to minimise odour, but said he could not see any clear way to "measure odour."
Request for figures and progress report
He asked the committee to obtain the most recent progress report and for figures on the number of machines and whether the 40 million is in place. The request was put to the Department of Agriculture and officials for follow-up information as soon as possible.
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Transcript
Okay, Deputy Fitzmaurice. The 18 plants that's in at the moment, we're eight weeks from Christmas. Surely to God you know if you have a purse there that is to be paid out, you've checked it out. My understanding around the country now, and I don't have a fair clue what's going on in AD, I cannot see too many of them 18 be ready for Christmas. What indication have you? The Department of Agriculture carry out the proper support so we won't be able to... And what have they told you up to now? The which? What have you been told up to now? Not all of those plants are going to be there. How many will be? Or how many do you expect? We'll have them. We don't have an exact number. We'll have a quarter of them. We can furnish the next reason for the support. The second question is, how come under the policy that if I put up my own anaerobic digester like Brendan Galeedon, there's no hassle with EPA or any of that, right? But if I come and a group of farmers get together with the same thing called slurry, but because we do it in a community, we'll have to use the EPA, even though it's the slurry out of four or five farmers together. Yeah, I was there. Even though it's going through anaerobic digestion and you're bringing it to a certain eating. I was surprised at that one because I went down to visit the Grange plant and I was told that once an animal byproduct from multiple farms is coming in, it's subject to all of the type of agriculture. Yeah, but is anyone going to look at that or change it? That's what I'm asking. Again, we can discuss with the Department of Agriculture. And the last question is, previous speakers, they spoke about order after, and in my opinion, if anaerobic to just Saran Rice, there isn't an order. But how do you measure order? I can never fathom that. I think one of the developers touched on that as well. It's a very hard thing to say because what might smell to me mightn't smell to somebody else. Yeah, but is there any way I'm measuring order? No, no. I don't believe so, but I know I visited a plant myself and they do. They're very professional in how they do that. They have the negative air when you go in and out. There's ways of minimising that. And I think they are learning from other kind of EU developers and producers to minimise that. We're starting from that point, I suppose. But I'm not aware there's any way to measure order. Can you come back to the committee with the figures as soon as possible on the numbers of the machine, that 40 million is there? We can request the most recent progress report. Okay. Thank you.