The vice-chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has said that the committee “needs to engage directly” with the European Commission rather than the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) on the nitrates derogation.
Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard said that a number of elements and criteria from the EU in relation to water quality put Ireland at a disadvantage, and that the need for a fairer appraisal of water quality here is necessary.
Speaking to Agriland, Lombard said this was particularly necessary in advance of the next review of Ireland’s derogation in 2025.
“The debate has begun, in terms of where we are with the next plan in 18 months time, how it works, where it works, what’s involved. We need to have that negotiation with the commission, so that we have a fair and honest result coming out of it.
“The (agriculture) committee has probably realised that we need to be part of that debate as well,” Lombard said.
He added: “After our engagement with the [European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius], we believe that we now need to engage directly with the commission on it rather than directly with the actual department, because we just need to make sure the points are made regarding a fair, equitable system that can provide a clarity regarding our water quality.
“It’s very obvious we don’t have that at the moment,” the senator said.
Highlighting one particular issue which he claimed made it “nearly impossible” for some areas of the country to see water quality improvements, Lombard said that a requirement to avoid eutrophication “put us in a straightjacket”.
Eutrophication is the process by which a body of water becomes enriched with nutrients to the point it causes flourishing and build-ups of algae. In water quality terms, it is considered a form of pollution.
While nitrogen can be a contributing factor, eutrophication also has other causes, including the accumulation of organic matter in water bodies.
Lombard said: “With the eutrophication element, it basically meant that the majority of the land in the ‘red area’ found it very, very hard to reach the requirements, because it’s not about [agricultural nitrates] in water, it’s about other issues, and the eutrophication issue could be run off from forestry.”
The senator claimed that, with the inclusion of eutrophication as a criteria for water quality, it “became nearly impossible for the majority of that area to pass”, referring to the areas of the country in which the nitrates derogation is set to drop from 250kg of organic nitrogen (N) per hectare to 22kg N/ha.
“In the midlands in particular, derogation farmers are very limited up there. Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, all these area would have traditionally very, very few derogation farmers, but they’re all in the ‘red area’ because of the eutrophication issue.
“So if we’re to be fair and honest to people, we need to go back and look at that criteria. Otherwise, for us to make sure we can actually pass those [requirements] is nearly impossible,” Lombard said.
He claimed that forestry is a “huge issue” when it comes to eutrophication.
“Forestry is part of the problem regarding the actual eutrophication element. In Leitrim, which is the most densely forested area in Ireland, and has one derogation farmer and less than 3,000 dairy cows, it’s [in the red area] at the moment,” Lombard said.
“That has nothing to do with nitrates. That has nothing to do with stocking rate. That’s to do with soil type and the forestry element in the county.
“We have to look at that aspect. It’s something that just doesn’t work for Ireland, and I think it’s an unfair measurement system for the Irish landscape,” he said.