A second public consultation on the review of the Nitrates Action Programme is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has said.
At present, both that department and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are working on a consultation document, which will be published jointly by both Minister Charlie McConalogue and Minister Darragh O’Brien in the near future.
An initial public consultation was launched on the review of the Nitrates Action Programme on November 25, 2020.
The original consultation formed part of a ‘roadmap’ for the review and set out a number of current and future issues to be considered as part of the review.
That consultation received over 100 responses, which have been considered by the Nitrates Expert Group, which is jointly chaired by representatives from both departments.
The ‘roadmap’ for the review, which was published in November last year, envisaged a second public consultation at a later date. The document for that follow-up consultation is currently being drafted.
According to the Department of Housing, the new consultation document will incorporate the information received during the first consultation process, along with additional research outputs, including more recent water quality data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Teagasc.
The new consultation will also include a number of proposed measures for consideration as part of the next Nitrates Action Programme.
A Department of Housing spokesperson told Agriland: “It is clear from our current water quality trends that significant reductions in nutrient and sediment losses from agriculture are needed to meet our current and future environmental targets.”