Social Democrats 'dangerously clueless' about Nitrates Derogation, says MEP
An MEP has warned that a "flippant remark" by the Social Democrats underlines how "little they understand about agriculture”.
Fianna Fáil MEP, Billy Kelleher said: “The Social Democrats are actively seeking to sabotage the national effort to retain the nitrates derogation that keeps many family-sized dairy farms in business.”
Kelleher, an MEP for Ireland South, was responding to commentary in the media and in the Dáil from the Social Democrats leader, Holly Cairns TD, and environment spokesperson, Jennifer Whitmore TD.
Deputy Whitmore said: “Along with members of the Environment, Housing and Agricultural Committees, I attended a meeting with Commissioner Jessika Roswall, who is here on a fact-finding mission ahead of the year-end expiration of Ireland’s nitrates derogation.
“Depressingly, I was the only TD in attendance to raise concerns with the commissioner about the quality of our waterways and the impact that the continued derogation is having on our environment and nature.
“I pointed out that a recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that 48% of our waterways are in poor health. Separately, there are now just 20 pristine sites in Ireland – down from 500 in the 1980s – while the salmon population has declined by 90% since the ‘70s.
“On one hand we have the Taoiseach [Micheál Martin] lecturing delegates at COP30 in Brazil about the need for leadership on climate action, while at the same time members of his cabinet are shamelessly lobbying Commissioner Roswall to extend the nitrates derogation – a move that will make it next to impossible to achieve our legally binding emissions reduction targets by 2030.
Nitrates derogation
MEP Billy Kelleher said: “Quite simply, they are trying to wreck our chances of retaining the derogation, and if that derogation isn’t retained many family farms will simply no longer be viable.”
According to Kelleher: “What is also missing from the Social Democrats understanding of this issue is the wider importance of the derogation to the agri-food sector in Ireland with the milk processors, transport sector, tillage sector and cheese manufacturers all relying on it.
“The Social Democrats constantly refer to the poor state of Ireland’s waterways, yet they don’t ever refer to the improvements that have been made, through the mitigation efforts of farmers, in recent years."
“Deputy Cairns' statement that she ‘meets the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) every year’ underscores the shallow engagement they have with farmers and people affected by the derogation.
“Of course we must improve water quality. Of course, we must reduce the level of runoff from agricultural activities into our waterways, and that is already taking place. More progress will come, but we need more time to allow for the full impact of the mitigation factors to be observed in water testing.
“Both deputies would be better off spending a day on some of Ireland’s many small family farms and learning about why the derogation matters to them, rather than making statements in the public domain that will sabotage those farmers' viability into the future,” Kelleher said.
On the same subject, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú said that removing the derogation would "deliver a severe blow to family farms" - without guaranteeing "measurable improvements" in water quality.
Social Democrats
A Social Democrats spokesperson said the party rejects what they describe as Billy Kelleher’s "patronising remarks".
"For his information, Holly Cairns is from a farming background and still lives on a farm, while Jennifer Whitmore is an aquatic ecologist who has spent her entire professional life working in this area - both as an ecologist and, as climate spokesperson for the party, as a TD," the spokesperson added.
