Farmers and contractors were throwing shapes in fields last Saturday evening rather than on the dancefloor, as they took advantage of the last few hours prior to the slurry spreading deadline.

A lot of people have not been sorted, despite the heroic efforts of contractors working around the clock in the closing days. Over 400 farmers have already applied for the extension, compared with only 80 last year.

There has been much criticism of the lack of a blanket extension to the open period – and of the fact that availing of the dispensation to spread in the closed period increases the prospect of cross-compliance inspection. Farmers are asking why politicians are not pushing harder and why the farm organisations are not more vocal on the issue. The answer is the nitrates review. It is an understatement to say that negotiations are delicate. Ireland’s need to protect our derogation and to continue to gain small advancements from each renewal of the nitrates regulations should be set against how the Commission has hammered the Dutch and the Danes.

Ireland’s waterways are clean by European standards. The sustainability of our production methods and the learning from our catchments programme all play well.

However, Brussels boffins interpret requests for an extension to the spreading period as an admission that our storage capacity is inadequate.

So actually, in this instance, it’s fair to say the Department has the green geansaí on.