Preparing to secure a nitrates derogation beyond 2025 is the “clear focus” of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), chief inspector at the DAFM, Bill Callanan has said.
Recommendations of the Nitrates Expert Group on measures to protect water quality will go to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue “shortly”, Callanan said.
The group previously discussed the establishment of a National Feeds Database, the use of GPS trackers on tankers, and a limit on the stocking rate beyond a certain radius.
Chaired jointly by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and the DAFM, the group is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Teagasc.
The recommendations will then go before the water quality working group, including farm organisations, the agri-food industry, Teagasc, An Fóram Uisce, and local authorities.
The aim of the working group is to identify and commit to demonstrative actions that will facilitate the agricultural sector contribute to improved water quality.
Nitrates derogation
Ireland’s current fifth Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) concludes in 2025. The final review of the overall programme will start in 2024 to inform the development of the sixth NAP.
Callanan told a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action that the DAFM will do a public consultation on the next phase of Ireland’s NAP.
“All of this is with the objective of us being in a good place in 2026 for the renegotiation of the derogation. There is a focus on this,” the DAFM chief inspector said.
The additional “substantial” actions the DAFM is currently taking with farmers are all designed with the aim of improving water quality to be in a “good place” for discussions, he added.
“To be clear, the derogation is dependent on a number of specific conditions. These include a long growing season, high denitrification and high levels of rainfall to displace nitrates.
“These conditions are consistent but, naturally, they must be accompanied by a positive trend in water quality to assuage any concerns that we are doing harm through being granted a derogation,” he said.