Ministers at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have welcomed a team from the EU’s Environment Directorate to Ireland today (Monday, September 16), to present the work being done by farmers to improve water quality.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Ministers of State Martin Heydon and Senator Pippa Hackett welcomed the commission team to a three-day visit which will focus on water quality and the nitrates derogation.
Minister McConalogue had invited the delegation following last year’s visit to Ireland by the Environment Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius.
Speaking on the first of a number of farms the officials will visit over the coming days, Minister McConalogue said: “This government will seek a further nitrates derogation for Ireland.
“Scientifically, we have robust reasoning to justify this request with our unique grass-based system, long growing season and soil types.
“However, all stakeholders, government, farmers and industry, are also acutely conscious that improving water quality across the country is a critical component of securing support for the continuation of the derogation from the commission and other EU member states.”
Commission visit
The DAFM’s recently published plan to retain the derogation post 2025 titled ‘Water and agriculture – a collaborative approach’ includes some actions which are already taking place, such as reductions in chemical nitrogen limits and low-emission slurry spreading.
The commission’s visit this week provides a “tremendous opportunity” to showcase these actions Irish farmers are taking to improve water quality, and to demonstrate how important the derogation is to Irish farm families, the minister said.
The visit is also an opportunity to present the “significant public and private investment” in actions to improve water quality, according to the minister, which include:
- The Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP);
- The €60 million European Innovation Programme (EIP) to improve water quality;
- The Agricultural Catchments Programme; and
- The €1.5 billion Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) in which 55,000 farmers are participating.
“I felt that it was important that the commission team should have an opportunity to see this work first hand, to meet the people passionately working on these projects, and the farmers who are working and investing day in day out to improve Irelands water quality,” he added.
Commission officials will also meet with the Agricultural Water Quality Working Group, farm representatives and other stakeholders to discuss Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) with a specific focus on the nitrates derogation.
Nitrates derogation
“Good water quality is an absolute requirement for citizens and a key focus for this government. Delivering this requires engagement from stakeholders across all sectors,” Minister Hackett said.
Investments such as those in organic farming, the Woodland for Water Initiative under the Forestry Programme, and the multi-species swards and red clover silage measures “can make a real contribution to delivering the necessary improvements”, she added.
Minister Heydon highlighted the importance of practical research, the provision of advice and supports to farmers, and the intensive monitoring of water quality under the Agricultural Catchments Programme.
“This visit is a platform to showcase the work of Irish farmers and the agri-food sector to protect water quality and highlight the importance of the dairy sector to the rural economy,” Minister Heydon said.
Minister McConalogue also presented the commission team with copies of the government’s recently published Water Quality Improvement Plan, which outlines the steps being taken to improve water quality.
“The visit provides an important opportunity, not only to increase awareness of our unique grass-based system, but also to get a sense of how farmers, supported by government and industry, are adopting new practices to improve water quality.
“I look forward to a very constructive engagement by the officials in Ireland over the coming days,” Minister McConalogue said speaking on the first of a number of farms the officials will visit over the coming days.