Mattie McGrath: Defends Farmers, Blames Water Infrastructure Failures
Mattie McGrath spoke in a parliamentary debate defending rural farmers against accusations of causing pollution and demanding accountability for water-treatment failures. He argued farmers have invested in modern practices and called on the EPA, county councils and government to address sewage and treatment-plant deficiencies rather than demonise farmers.
Defense of rural farmers
He said the debate has been unequal, unfair and indeed targeted at rural dwellers and rural farmers, noting farmers have followed market and policy demands, invested millions—particularly young farmers—in state-of-the-art systems and good animal husbandry, and deserve support not blame.
Septic tanks and treatment-plant failures
He cited temporary villages like his own in Newcastle that lack proper treatment plants, describing a single large tank serving about 500 people and raw sewage discharging downstream. He referenced a claim that a tenfold increase in funding is needed to install adequate treatment plants.
Calls for EPA and council accountability
He urged the EPA to test water quality and expose where county councils and other bodies are failing, arguing the focus should be on fixing infrastructure and enforcement rather than demonising rural communities and farmers.
Local pollution observations
He described two farmer friends who saw lines of sewers discharging into Dublin Bay and warned of contaminated wells and households with no supports, saying the government and councils must act to resolve visible sewage and water-quality problems.
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I welcome this and I welcome the debate on this because debate has been unequal, unfair and indeed targeted at rural dwellers and rural farmers because they want to play their part and there are maybe very minor incidents and they should be rightly checked up and investigated but the farmers really the causes of pollution are many and many decades of failures by government policies bears a large portion of the blame farmers who have done what the markets and policy makers have asked of them but are ever more aware of the need to do things differently they've invested millions some young farmers and putting in state-of-the-art you know slowly operations indeed a good animal husbandry for their animals and everything else and it's time to get off the monkey off their back and allow them to do what they're doing and don't be demonizing them they're aware of the need and then increasingly they embrace them until farming cover crops and other methods and that helped the environment so they deserve support and not to be blamed the same with the septic tanks as he's raising their head again today it's the water treatment plants I could name turtim in temporary villages like my own in Newcastle with no treatment plant a plant for about you know 500 people and a plant a big septic tank and I asked the EPA more than once when they come to the bridge to take water qualities to go down 200 metres downstream raw sewers belching in and that's happening and I think the deputy said earlier that that we need tenfold increase in funding to get these pants in after that they don't have a treatment plant they don't have percolation they just have a big tank and everything flows over that as I went into it so that is disgusting and that's happening open down temporary in villages and everything else so minister it's time you stop demonizing the young and the old farmers who would animal husband and walk with the shovels to make sure drains and do enough everything and so they are playing the path and everybody needs to pay the path here we have the people then with the sector or wells they are what they spin to that they get no supports and they want to let our well be contaminated no they're not so it's time we had fair and reasonable commentary here it's time that the EPA pony up here and we'll test where the councils are falling down and expose it as I said this morning again two farmers friends of mine were out on a boat pleasure crew craft here some lovely Saturday morning about three weeks ago and the belching out in Dublin Bay the two lines of sewers thrown out into the sea was quite disgusting and then we come along the whole time playing the family so the county councils and the government need to act here and not be blaming the rural communities
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