The government’s recently published plan to retain Ireland’s nitrates derogation has been described as “welcome and promising” by the deputy president of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Eamon Carroll.
The ICMSA deputy president’s comments come after the first meeting of the Agriculture Water Quality Working Group since the publication of Ireland’s derogation renewal plan “Water and Agriculture – A collaborative Approach” last week.
The plan pulls together the work done to date by the working group, the additional measures under the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP), and the ongoing projects that will help to improve water quality and secure the derogation.
Carroll said the ICMSA is “confident” that the “whole-of-sector” approach to water quality will “pay dividends” and represents a “best-foot-forward” strategy that will improve water quality and ultimately secure the derogation post-2025.
However, the ICMSA deputy president said it would be “naive” to think that the publication of the plan to retain the nitrates derogation represents a “guarantee of future success”.
Carroll added that ICMSA representatives on the working group will work to ensure that “real measurable progress” is made in the coming 18 months to secure the future of farmers and improve water quality.
Water quality
Announcing the publication of the government plan last week, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said among the actions in the plan is a visit of European Commission officials to Ireland in September.
“The impending visit of the European Commission in September is a case in point; all efforts should be made to ensure that officials see the practical and positive differences of a grass-based system and see the scientific evidence indicating that.
“Our grass-based system is widely accepted right across Europe as unique and it’s up to us all to reinforce the positive image of that system and highlight the need for our continuing derogation.
“Over the longer term and through utilisation of this document, there is real potential for the [working group] to implement and drive changes that benefit both farmers and water quality and show conclusively that a thriving farming sector can – and will – coexist alongside good water quality,” Carroll said.
TAMS
The ICMSA deputy president said that farmers “desperately need both certainty and confidence”, and added that the proposal for a 60% Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) storage grant is a “very welcome start”.
The government’s plan to retain the derogation outlined that permission has been sought from the commission to implement a 60% grant and a separate ceiling of €90,000 for farmers for nutrient storage from January 2025.
Carroll said, however, that an “equalisation” to the new Nutrient Importation Storage Scheme (NISS) under TAMS, which will provide a 70% grant rate for additional storage facilities, “would be a welcome move”.
In the plan, the minister detailed that provision will be made for a new and separate “exempt development” threshold for “independent” nutrient storage as part of a review of planning regulations, following the enactment of the Planning Bill.
“The planning exemption is also a welcome development that needs to ‘dovetail’ with this TAMS funding to ensure a full take-up so that maximum storage can be provided to farmers.
“We think that the detail and timelines around the introduction of this planning exemption need to be published and communicated so that that interested farmers can be ready-to-go to apply for the grant on January 1, 2025,” he said.