Leitrim Cathaoirleach said that sheep dip needs to be disposed of correctly

Cllr Justin Warnock welcomed announcement of the new additions to the Sheep Welfare Scheme and the measure for the plunge dipping of sheep and asked that the council write to the Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue TD to ask what measures or recommendations has his Department put in place for farmers or dipping contractors for the safe disposal of the spent dip to protect our watercourses and our environment.

He said that because of the long "wet winters we're having, sheep scab is an issue the length and breadth of Ireland but the dip is another problem."

Cllr Warnock said that he believes the council needs to put in place something "to safely get rid of sheep dip in the same way we dispose of paint and oil, etc."

Current guidelines state that farmers can dispose of waste sheep dip by diluting it with three times the volume of water and then spreading it on land.

He said that sheep dip is a "very toxic chemical and many farmers don't have slatted sheds or dipping ponds and depend on someone to come in and punge dip them. More than likely, the guy doing the work will leave it onsite which will be an issue because the last thing you want is for it to end up in our watercourses."

He continued "putting that out on our land which is already very wet, it'll end up in rivers and lakes and kill everything in them and end up in our drinking water."

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D. recently announced the opening of applications for a new National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS) and participants will be required to complete two actions to receive the full payment of €8 per ewe. The scheme consists of four possible measures, equally applicable to upland and lowland flocks, and grouped into two categories - Category A – shearing or body condition scoring of ewes and Category B – clostridial vaccination of ewes (or lambs if ewes are already vaccinated) or plunge dipping of ewes.

Cllr Padraig Fallon said, "With that, he's added additional measures and paperwork to farmers."

He said that, "99 percent of farmers I know carry out all of these actions so there was no need to implement these additional actions."

Cllr Warnock responded that he had spoken to the Minister about sheep scab and "it's a serious issue and I have the figures to back it up. It needs to be dealt with but we don't want the cure to be worse than the problem.

"We have to welcome any money that comes in; even for shearing sheep, especially when wool is worth nothing. At least it puts something back in the farmer's pocket because up to now, the farmer was paying out of his own pocket. I would not fault the scheme."

Cllr Fallon said that those who shear their own sheep "can't get a receipt from somebody for shearing their sheep. I shear my sheep and donate the wool so I don't get a receipt for that either."