The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has blasted the government’s performance on Ireland’s nitrates derogation as “an abject surrender”.
This afternoon (Wednesday, September 6), it was confirmed that the European Commission has said that there is “no prospect” of re-opening the current decision on the derogation.
It followed a video call between Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and EU Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius on Monday evening to discuss the matter.
Ireland’s current derogation is due to expire on January 1, 2026 and the derogation limit is due to reduce to 220kg organic nitrogen (N) per hectare on January 1, 2024 in certain areas, because the latest water quality results have not shown sufficient improvement.
ICMSA
ICMSA president Pat McCormack accused the government of “selling out family dairy farms and rolling over for the EU Commission.
He said this means that Ireland’s multi-billion euro dairy sector is now in “a very dangerous place” due to failing farm prices and production restrictions.
McCormack said that “effective control” of the most sustainable and profitable part of our farming and agri-sector had been handed over to the commission “without so much as a murmur of protest by those charged with defending it”.
“One would have to ask the question whether the government had ever intended defending the derogation or whether their public statements had been a charade,” he said.
The ICMSA leader claimed that a continuation of the current derogation would have been possible “if we were willing to mount a skillful campaign based on the evidence that is already emerging”.
“No such campaign was ever mounted by this government and this minister and consequently we have had our N limits reduced to 220kg in defiance of all the evidence, economic and environmental, that the existing 250kg is perfectly compatible with improving water quality while maintaining the production capacity,” McCormack said.
Nitrates derogation
The ICMSA president said that with this decision, the government has “put the nail in the coffin of many family dairy farms”.
“Even today, even after this surrender, farmers cannot check their nitrates figures online and there’s no firm date for this online check facility to be put in place.
“The degree of real commitment shown by our government can be gauged by the fact that they didn’t even travel over to Brussels to make the case.
“They were happy to be told off via a video call and that’s just about all they deserved,” he said.
“Everyone connected with this disaster – and I’m specifically including the government’s backbench TDs – should be ashamed of this whole episode and will have to own the consequences,” McCormack added.